Residents of Bomet were on Thursday shocked beyond belief after a 45-year-old woman collapsed and died by the roadside near Ola Petrol station in Bomet town at 8:30 pm.
According to the deceased’s brother Wilson Katam who was in her company at the time of the incident, the woman, hailing from Ndarawetta, Bomet Central, had travelled from Kapkatet hospital where she had been admitted after being diagnosed with meningitis.
Katam said his sister had gotten well after the treatment and was discharged adding the ugly turn of events happened for unknown reasons immediately after alighting from a matatu they had travelled in.
Bomet Central Police Commander Musa Omar Imamai confirmed the incident saying that the woman lost her life on the spot.
Imamai said the police could not rush in and move the body as they were cautious enough to involve medical personnel to rule out a possibility of any Omicron Covid-19 variant case.
He was responding to claims by residents that the police took close to one hour before moving away from the body that was covered by the roadside.
Residents who witnessed the tragic turn of events become agitated while some become impatient and protested the delay in the removal of the body by blocking the highway and burning tyres in the middle of the road causing heavy traffic snarl-up.
Imamai however asked the members of the public to desist from such acts of lawlessness saying burning tyres on the tarmac amounted to the destruction of public property that is punishable by law.
He said in such a case of sudden death, the police were not in a position to hastily move forward with handling the body without involving experts from the medical field especially in the wake of the ever-mutating Covid-19 virus disease.
The police boss further said the real cause of the death would only be confirmed by post mortem analysis to be conducted on the body which currently lies in Longisa hospital mortuary.
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