The owners of the killer Solai dam have broken their silence after the dam burst its banks Wednesday, killing upwards of 40 people as the waters furiously swept over the land.
Speaking to a mainstream media outlet, the manager of the Patel Dam, Vinod Jayakimar, rebuffed claims that the dam was illegal, saying that it burst its banks because of the heavy rains that have been pounding the area.
He said that it was a natural calamity and that the dam had been in existence for almost twenty years.
''The dam which has caused us the problem has been here for almost twenty years so you can't say it is illegal just because it has happened. I know it's because of the bad weather, heavy rains, natural calamity and lots of rain from the Ndunduri forest,'' Mr Jayakumar said.
Investigations into the tragedy are in overdrive as the government tries to understand what caused the tragedy.
There are fears that the dam could have suffered from serious integrity flaws that caused it to break.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has said that stern action will be taken against the owners should it be found that the structure was illegally constructed.