Government Spokesperson Cyrus Oguna has hit out at Volker Bassen, a Swedish diver who had claimed he was able to locate the bodies of the Likoni ferry tragedy victims in two hours.
Speaking during a press briefing after a car was spotted in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, Mr Oguna attacked Bassen although he avoided mentioning his name.
“There are some people who claimed they could retrieve the bodies from the ocean in two hours’ time, but they failed spectacularly, and took off. You know them,” Oguna said as quoted by K24 Digital.
Mr Bassen had on Friday last week promised to help retrieve the bodies of Mariam Kighenda and her four-year-old daughter Amanda Mutheu for free.
Bassen together with his three colleagues were allowed to join the rescue team but their search mission bore no fruit.
The veteran diver left the country the next day.
"Tomorrow [Saturday, October 5], I will be travelling out of Kenya hence I won’t be able to take part in the subsequent search operation," said Bassen.
The search operation, however, continued, with today (Wednesday) marking the 11th day.
Hopes of retrieving the two bodies are high after the Kenya Navy spotted a car in the ocean.
However, Mr Oguna could not confirm whether the spotted car is that of Kighenda.
Operations to retrieve the car from the ocean are underway, with the government promising to update Kenyans as soon as the vehicle is recovered.