Kenyan Woman Dies in Saudi Arabia 10 Days after Starting Cleaner Job, Family Seeks Answers

Lucy Wanja went to the Middle-East nation on September 12, 2021, after years of attempting to get a job in the Gulf with the hope of making an income.

Conflicting accounts

Ten days after her arrival for what she hoped would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, her family was informed that their daughter was in a critical condition after falling while showering, the Nation reported.

However, they read malice when they started getting conflicting accounts of what happened to their daughter.

They were later told she had suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest and lastly, they were told she succumbed to COVID-19.

Her body arrived in the country a few days ago. The distraught mother, Susan Nzilani, is yet to come to terms with Wanja’s death.

“They have brought a corpse instead of my dear child. My daughter was healthy and I don’t understand what happened when she arrived there,” she said.

The family intends to have a post-mortem conducted on their kin to determine the exact cause of her demise while also calling for the Kenyan and Saudi Arabia authorities to intervene.

In 2018, Wanja had also made an attempt to travel to Dubai for a job but was conned KSh 105,000 by a recruiting agency.

89 Kenyans die in Saudi Arabia

In a separate story, a new report by the government revealed 89 Kenyans died in Saudi Arabia over the last two years.

The report submitted to the National Assembly’s Labour Committee by Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Kamau Macharia cited ‘heart attack’ as the cause of their deaths.

The PS told MPs the government accepted the explanation given by the Saudi government without verification.


SOURCE: Nii Otu Dadeban Ankrah