In late November 2019 it was reported on Facebook that a man had died after he jumped off the MV Harambee ferry into the ocean near Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa.
This came two months after a mother and daughter drowned when their car slid off another Mombasa ferry.
The posts have been flagged as possibly false by Facebook’s fact-checking system, prompting Africa Check to investigate.
One post says: “The man who is yet to be identified … threw himself into the ocean by running through the back end of the MV Harambee Ferry. The incident is said to have occurred at around midnight when the man and other travellers were heading from South Coast.”
It adds that “witnesses further claimed that the man appeared disturbed before throwing himself into the ocean”.
On 24 November the Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) confirmed the incident, on their official Twitter account.
“At around 0130hrs an unidentified male passenger went overboard MV Harambee from Mainland to the island side. Our rescue efforts bore no fruit. The search for the body is still on,” read the tweet.
On 26 November, KFS tweeted that “a body of an unidentified man suspected to be of the victim who went overboard MV Harambee on Sunday was this afternoon retrieved along shores of Likoni channel next to old ferry landing site”.
The KFS said the body had been taken to the Coast General Hospital mortuary and that no one had “claimed the identity of the victim”. – Grace Gichuhi
This came two months after a mother and daughter drowned when their car slid off another Mombasa ferry.
The posts have been flagged as possibly false by Facebook’s fact-checking system, prompting Africa Check to investigate.
One post says: “The man who is yet to be identified … threw himself into the ocean by running through the back end of the MV Harambee Ferry. The incident is said to have occurred at around midnight when the man and other travellers were heading from South Coast.”
It adds that “witnesses further claimed that the man appeared disturbed before throwing himself into the ocean”.
Kenya Ferry Services confirm death
On 24 November the Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) confirmed the incident, on their official Twitter account.
“At around 0130hrs an unidentified male passenger went overboard MV Harambee from Mainland to the island side. Our rescue efforts bore no fruit. The search for the body is still on,” read the tweet.
On 26 November, KFS tweeted that “a body of an unidentified man suspected to be of the victim who went overboard MV Harambee on Sunday was this afternoon retrieved along shores of Likoni channel next to old ferry landing site”.
The KFS said the body had been taken to the Coast General Hospital mortuary and that no one had “claimed the identity of the victim”. – Grace Gichuhi
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