East Africa Ocean Festival in Mombasa was suspended on Friday following an accident during a boat race that left three people unaccounted for as 19 others rescued.

The accident occurred on Friday evening when a boat with 23 participants capsized near the Tudor Creek as it neared the finish line.

Speaking at the scene, Mombasa County Commissioner Mohamed Nur said the festival had been suspended to allow uninterrupted rescue operations that could take up to 72 hours.

“We urge them to be patient and accord the rescue teams the space to search for the bodies and retrieve them from the ocean. Let’s not have the kind of commotion that was witnessed yesterday night when stones were thrown (at lifesavers and police). Let’s give our officers time to work,” he implored.

He assured the families that are affected by the accident that the bodies would be found as the state had pulled all the stops and many rescue boats have been deployed.

“We have agreed with the organising committee to suspend the festival. Today was scheduled for awarding winners but we have suspended all that. This operation area is out of bounds for all boats, except the ones involved in the rescue,” Nur said.

Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir said the annual private-organised event ended prematurely after a boat that was in a race capsized, 19 people were rescued, while three are still missing.

“As we speak right now, we have four boats from the Kenya Navy. We have a boat from the Kenya Coast Guard, a boat from Kenya Maritime Authority, a boat from Kenya Forestry Service, Kenya Wildlife Service and equally, the county government of Mombasa has deployed four rescue boats,” he explained.

The governor confirmed that the Kenyan Navy had mapped-out the ocean where the rescue boats will take turns to search to accelerate the rescue mission. He urged the people to be calm as the rescue mission is underway.

Jomvu Member of Parliament Badi Twalib lauded the Kenya Navy soldiers for leading efforts in the rescue operations. He also appealed to affected families to be calm as the multiagency operation continues.

Human rights activists blamed the organisers of the event for not adhering to basic safety protocols such as ensuring the competing teams to wear life-saving jackets and stand-by rescue teams.

“To be honest, yesterday’s event didn’t follow the safety measures that are supposed to be in place in an event of such magnitude,” Haki Africa Rapid Response Officer Mathias Shipeta said, and promised to ensure the families get justice.

Salma Hemed from the ‘She Raise’ organisation, accused the main organisers of the event of giving a wide berth to the rescue mission and instead going underground. She called for a multiagency team to provide constant updates to the families on the rescue mission, citing the commotion that was witnessed in the morning due to emotions.

“We want the national and county governments, to come-up with strategies on how they will counsel the families, to be assisted psychologically, when the bodies are found,” she said.

Another human rights activist Walid Sketty called for the arrest of the event organisers and scaling-up of disaster management teams to respond to such tragedies.

Ziro Kasha, said his nephew Steve Karembo, 24 years old, is among the three missing persons. He echoed Sketty’s sentiments, calling for a thorough probe of the event organisers.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Sadik Hassan