Families to wait longer for kin

Kenya Red Cross personnel led by Secretary Genral Abbas Gullet help an injured security officer at Westgate mall in Nairobi September 21, 2013. Photo/ JEFF ANGOTE 

In Summary
Kenyans in the diaspora donated Sh410,000, while Safaricom donated Sh30 million. The monies collected will be used to foot hospital bills of the victims, trauma counselling, ambulance services, blood donation and long term intervention

 By SAMUEL BORN MAINA
More by this Author
Families that have not traced the whereabouts of their members since last Saturday’s terror attack will have to wait until all the trapped bodies inside the mall have been recovered and identified.

Kenya Red Cross Secretary-General Abbas Gullet Friday said they could not recover the trapped bodies because forensic experts had not finished combing the area.

Addressing a media briefing yesterday, Mr Gullet said they had received many reports of missing persons.

“Yesterday alone, we received 71 reports of missing persons. We have to do verification first,” he said at the Safaricom Centre in Nairobi.

Red Cross director of external affairs Wariko Waita said they could not disclose the exact number of missing persons to the public for security reasons, and that the complaints they had received were overwhelming.

“We have given the police all the information. They are the ones who will tell you,” he said.

The number of bodies trapped inside the rubble at the mall is unknown and forensic experts are combing the area for evidence on the attack.

“We know there are dead bodies inside, we are only waiting forensic officials to complete their work before we move in,” Mr Gullet said.

He at the same time said they had received cash donations from over 240,000 people amounting to Sh102,331,349. The money was collected under the We Are One initiative to assist victims of the terror attack on Westgate mall by Al-Shabaab terrorists.

Kenyans in the diaspora donated Sh410,000, while Safaricom donated Sh30 million. The monies collected will be used to foot hospital bills of the victims, trauma counselling, ambulance services, blood donation and long term intervention.

“No money will be given to individuals,” Mr Gullet said.

The medical kitty will receive the highest amount of money of Sh50 million while Sh5 million will go into long term interventions.

“We have now asked hospitals to deliver their invoices so that we can pay them,” he said.

Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore thanked Kenyans for donating generously.

“We are humbled by the contribution made over the three days by our customers,” he said. “We received donations ranging from Sh10 to Sh50,000, we could even receive an average of Sh34,000 per hour.”