'Please let me see my sibling' How candidate begged not knowing her entire family had died

Piece by: Peninah Njoki
Lifestyle

Form 4 candidate Anna Zambi begged to at least be let to see her three siblings not knowing that they had died alongside her parents.

Anna's parents Grace Lington Zambi and Andrew Lington Zambi were killed in a flash floods alongside their three kids Lulu, Wilfrida and Baby Lington.

Their car had been swept away in flash floods in Handeni District, Tanga region, Tanzania.

The family of 5 had been travelling from Dar es Salaam to Kilimanjaro when the accident occurred.

Speaking during an interview with Global TV, Isabela Lyimo, Anna's only maternal aunt said,

'We were in the car when we told her that her parents had passed away, she then asked to see her sibling.

When we told her that they had also died, she snapped and no one could control her cries of pain.

She added,

Anna's dad had a work ID in his pockets so that is how the company he was working for was informed of the accident.

After that they informed us and I could not believe the news.'

Isabela went on to add that since Anna's parents were going to her prayer day at school as Anna was about to sit for her National Exam council of Tanzania (Necta) - an equivalent of KCSE- still went to see her in school but after the burial.

''The bodies were so badly mangled and the body of the second child had at the time not been found so when the body was found we did the burial as fast as we could.

It was only four days to her KCSE.

We talked to the teachers and told them not to let my niece find out about their death.

On the day school prayers were to be held, We went to the school and celebrated with her.

She had heard rumours about a family that had drowned en route to their child's school but she did not know it was her parents.'

So tragic was the incident, that the family members chose not to tell her about it.

The family wanted her to finish her exams in peace. When she finished the exams, she traveled back home to be with her family and that is when she learnt what had happened.