The Citizen
Hundreds of mourners turned up at the home of Mr David Mtuwa in Dar es Salaam yesterday to pay their last respects to five family members who lost their lives during a stampede at Uhuru Stadium on Sunday.
Christian (11), Michelle (8), Nathan (6), Natalia (5), Suzan Ndana Mtuwa (30s) and a housemaid Anita Mfikwa (27) died as they went to pay their last respects to the body of former President John Magufuli.
The five bodies with the exception of that of Anita, were buried at David Mtuwa’s home ground, a grandfather of the four dead-children and a father-in-law of Suzy where the whole family resides.
It was a hard time for Mr Denis Mtuwa as he sought to narrate the ordeal that his two sons (Nathan and Natalia) and his wife Suzan went through before they breathed their last on Sunday.
“I married Suzan in 2011 and got our first born, Nathan in 2013. Our second child, Natalia, was born in 2014 and our last born in 2018. I have also lived with our housemaid, Anita, since 2013 until her death,” he said.
The vividly sorrowful Mr Denis said after being informed that his wife and family were hospitalised at Temeke Referral Hospital he rushed there.
While there, he searched in the emergency room and patients’ wards, but he could not find them and was thus told to go and search in the morgue.
“I entered the mortuary and found many dead bodies on the ground. I started searching and managed to see the body of my son Nathan, lying on the floor and then my wife (Suzan). I was shocked and felt bad seeing them lying on the floor dead with some injuries on parts of their bodies,” he narrated.
“I couldn’t find the others on the floor and decided to open the morgue’s fridges where I found the other three bodies (Natalia, Christian and Michelle) all having bruises on their skins.
“The situation seems like people had stepped on their bodies,” he added.
Anita (housemaid) was nowhere to be found until the two next days where she was found dead at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH).
“I contacted her parents and let them decide on when and where she will be laid to rest,” he said.
