Standoff at Embu Level Five Mortuary After Child’s Body Goes Missing

The child had passed away a week earlier, and the family, led by the father Kevin Mukundi, had planned to bury the remains at their rural home in Kigumo Village, Runyenjes Constituency. Mortuary staff were unable to locate the body, sparking outrage among the gathered mourners and friends who demanded immediate explanations and even threatened to hold protests in Embu Town.

Investigations revealed a shocking mix-up: the child's body had been mistakenly released to another family and subsequently buried in the Kiamuringa area of Mbeere South. When attendants presented an alternative body for inspection, the family quickly identified it as that of a six-year-old boy, which did not match their one-year-old son's size and could not fit into the prepared small coffin. Kevin Mukundi expressed the family's distress, stating, “When we inspected the body, we immediately knew it was not ours. It was the body of a six-year-old boy, yet our son was only one year old. The body could not even fit into the small coffin we had prepared.” The mourners briefly reported the matter to Embu Police Station but were directed back to the hospital administration.

Embu County Chief Officer for Health Patrick Mukavi intervened at the scene, confirming the error and announcing that legal procedures had been started to facilitate the exhumation of the wrongly buried body. The county government committed to covering the family's burial expenses to assist with the preparations already made. The distraught family eventually left the mortuary, awaiting the exhumation process and final resolution to allow proper identification and dignified burial for their child, while the incident highlighted serious concerns over mortuary management protocols.