The Kenyatta University student, Mercy Nyambeki who survived the grisly Kisii accident has condemned the use of social media to spread falsehoods.She termed social media a “demon” that declared her dead moments after the deadly accident.
Ms Nyambeki recounted that while lying in her hospital bed, she read posts going round that she was critically ill.The sole survivor of the road crash which claimed eight lives, together with parents of other victims urged the government to regulate the use of social media when it comes to spreading grief messages.
In a report by a local daily, parents of the Dorothy Stima, a girl who perished in the accident, said they got to know about the incident after seeing photos posted on social media.
Ms Gladys Stima, Dorothy’s mother, recollected that together with her son Vincent, (brother to the deceased) they had discussed the tragedy before they were later informed that one of their own was in the accident.
“He even showed me photos of the accident and I was wondering what the students had come to do in Kisii. I did not know that my daughter was among the victims.
“Reality struck when my son received a call asking him if he knew the whereabouts of his sister, and the stranger went ahead to break the news that Dorothy was no more,” Ms Stima added.
Another family told a similar story, that it was through a WhatsAPP group that they knew about their daughter’s death.
The two families expressed that photos of the accident uploaded online, brought back painful memories especially those of dead students in bloody scenes.
They requested the public to be more sensitive and stop uploading such pictures whenever unfortunate events occur.