No trace for Kenyan missing couple in Zanzibar, says Interpol
Tanzanian International Police (Interpol) now say they have not found any evidence that the Kenyan missing couple arrived in Zanzibar for their honeymoon.
Interpol-Tanzania chief Gustavo Babile told Nation the information they received from their Kenyan counterparts on couple last whereabouts does not show they reached the Tanzanian archipelago.
“We received information from Kenya officials and we have checked with the hotel they were said to have stayed but it seems the couple did not go to that hotel. The hotel management has told us no people of such names ever stayed there,” he said on phone from Dar es Salaam.
Information sent to Interpol-Tanzania showed that the couple, Martin Kirimi and his newly-wed wife Mary Mwangi, had indicated they would stay at the Zanzibar Beach Hotel.
However, Interpol-Tanzania said they could not find their records at the hotel and found no similar information at other hotels on the island.
“It would be up to Kenya Police to furnish us with more details of any other place the couple might have visited. We shall assist as we always have upon request,” Mr Babile added.
Mr Kirimi had told relatives and friends that they would take a bus from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam and then the ferry to Zanzibar for their honeymoon. They left Nairobi on the morning of Monday, July 17.
But the couple on honeymoon in Tanzania has gone missing since the Zanzibar ferry disaster on July 18, which killed 104 people.
Zanzibar is about 27 knots (50km) east of Dar es Salaam and is accessible by sea or air.
The couple had told family and friends that they would go there by road and sea, and then travel back by air.
On Thursday, Mr Kirimi’s in-law, Maina Kariuki told the Nation he had last talked to him on July 17 when Kirimi informed him they were crossing into Tanzania at Namanga.
Their family and friends now fear the two might have been aboard the doomed boat that sunk off the coast of Dar last month, although there has been no trace confirming that.
On Saturday, Tanzanian sea transport regulations officials and local police added to the confusion surrounding the missing Kenyans by claiming they have rules requiring all ferry operators to record the personal profiles of their passengers.
But they added they could not be sure, for now, the ferry operators captured all the details of passengers aboard the ferry that capsized last month, the time the Kenyan newlyweds disappeared mysteriously.
“According to the manifest of the boat, which we received from Dar es Salaam Police, there were 300 adult passengers and 31 children on boat, but we still do not know if that was the actual figure. We are still investigating,” said Zanzibar Commissioner of Police Musa Ali via telephone.
Tanzanian Surface and Marine Transportation Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) stated that all ferry services are required to get the names, seat number, nationality as well as contacts of the next of kin of all passengers boarding their boats.
“They have to maintain a passenger manifest. This involves details of names, ticket numbers and citizenships among other details,” said Sumatra Communications Manager David Mziray.
But Mr Mziray could not also confirm whether ferry operators actually stuck to the rules when dealing with passengers.
“It is compulsory that passengers provide identification documents to get a ticket. But the details of the passengers also depend on the names they provide when booking,” he added.
The private-owned ferry, MV Skagit carrying 291 passengers from Tanzanian commercial capital Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar capsized at around midday.
Rescuers managed to save 146 people, 140 passengers died while the rest could not be accounted for.
On Friday, Martin’s brother, Mr Tomothy Kinyua who travelled to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar at the time of the disaster contradicted Mr Mziray, saying he found 250 names on the list of passengers who boarded the disastrous boat.
“Most of the names, were in fact, written initials, some had only one name written in full and you could not tell their nationality or where they had come from,” said Mr Kinyua.
But the Kenyan police have yet to inform the family of the progress in the investigations.
Mr Kariuki said the police had informed him they would study Interpol’s findings before making the next move.
Source: DAILY NATION
No trace for Kenyan missing couple in Zanzibar, says Interpol
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