As many nations take toll of and mourn their dead in the terrorist attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenyans collectively cope with the greatest share of grief.
Dozens of Kenyans died, and as each one is identified, families lose the hope they had that maybe their loved ones were among the hostages still alive inside the mall.
David Muthumbi Karechu, 63, was one such victim. His widow, Alice, told AFP: “Yesterday we were moving around from hospital to hospital looking for him. Now we are here for the post mortem.”
Karechu was a manager at the Bank of Baroda. Karechu’s son, Zachary, said the family didn’t know where he was.
“It was when we were watching the news that we started to realize it was a possibility Dad had been caught up in that attack,” he said.
Sarah Mbone, another woman who lost a loved one—her niece, who had gone to a bank at the mall Saturday—in the attack, told AFP: “Everyone was affected by this attack. President (Uhuru) Kenyatta lost his nephew, and me, just an ordinary person, I lost my niece.”
AFP posted on its Facebook page an observation made by a correspondent at the Nairobi City Mortuary: “From men in suits with iPads to people in cheap clothes & worn down shoes.”
Articles on victims of the Westgate mall attack:
Nairobi Attack Takes Bright Young Couple: Australian Ross Langdon, Pregnant Dutch Wife Elif Yavuz
Naguib Damji Identified as Second Canadian Killed in Nairobi Westgate Mall Attack
Kofi Awoonor Dead: Poet From Ghana Was Killed in Nairobi Mall Attack
James Thomas, South African Consultant, Killed in Nairobi Mall Attack
Juan Ortiz-Iruri, Peruvian Health Consultant, Killed in Nairobi Mall Attack
