Medical student drowns in dreaded Rokoze quarry lake

MARACHA - Excited after completing examinations, about 20 students from St Joseph’s Medical Training School in Maracha district dived into a man-made water body for a swim.

Unfortunately, one of them, Denis Araku, did not make it out alive.

The dreaded Rokoze water body was formed after water filled a deep quarry that resulted from a hill blasted by the Chinese company CICO about eleven years ago.
Five people, including children, have so far died in this water body.

Gerald Econi, one of the students who witnessed the incident that occurred on December 5, 2025, narrated what happened.

“The deceased started swimming towards the deeper side of this water while I was watching. At some point, he shouted that he was getting tired in the water, then he made an alarm, and others around, including me, started shouting.

I have failed to understand. At some point, it looked like we were shouting for fun, when we started seeing him disappearing in the water, that's when we realised it was serious, and too late," Econi said.

Robert Obeti, the LC1 chairperson of Aciku village, also spoke about the incident.

“These boys came in big numbers; they passed through my compound with a lot of noise, jubilating, I think, over the exams they had finished, as I took my tea at my verandah. Shortly after one of the local boys here came running with the information that a student had drowned in the waters. We rushed there, but it was too late. The students wanted to run away, but I insisted that the police should be informed," Obeti said.

According to Christopher Dramani, another LC1 chairperson, his efforts to chase away people who access the water for fishing and swimming have repeatedly been ignored.