Kiambu: Excavator Kills Operator After Overturning In Gatundu

• A man working on the Kariminu II Dam pipeline project was crushed to death while on duty on Thursday
• This was after the excavator he was working with overturned and rolled down a slope near the Karera village of Gatundu South Constituency
• According to locals, the accident might have been due to the heavy rains that caused the ground to disintegrate at any slight chance

Kai Eli, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings more than three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.

A plant operator tragically died on Thursday, May 9, while undertaking his work in Gatundu South.

How man died in Kariminu

News sources indicate the man was excavating for the Kariminu II Dam pipeline project near Karera village when the accident occurred.

He was carrying on his assignment when he controlled the machine toward a slope where it overturned and rolled down River Kahundu, crushing him.

Locals at the scene attributed the accident to the fragmentation caused by the prevalent heavy rains.

"He was out working hard to sustain his family only to be killed while at work. The place he was digging had a steep descent and the soil was slippery due to the rains. He was risking his life," The Star quoted an eyewitness as saying.

This came days after another excavator killed a young boy during the forcible evacuation in Nairobi's Mathare area.

How 2024 KCSE candidate's life tragically ended in Mathare

Eighteen-year-old Ian Otieno, a candidate in this year's Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination, was helping rescue a church's property when the earthmover hit a wall toward him.

His mother said his efforts to escape the scene proved futile after the excavator's bucket teeth held him by the skull.

She explained that the mover's operator turned down the distress calls from the locals, who requested more time to salvage their belongings and children.

The death resulted in mass action protests in the shanty town, whose locals vowed not to leave until they were shown the alternative grounds they could inhabit.

It took the intervention of the state law enforcers to calm the situation.

The accident happened a day after President William Ruto toured the area.

He was there on Monday, May 6, to assess the flooding.

His clarion call was that those on riparian tracts vacate them for safer grounds.

Proofreading by Otukho Jackson, a multimedia journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke