By P, KNA
A family in Maragwa Ridge, Murang’a County, is living in anguish following the mysterious disappearance of their 27-year-old son, Nathaniel Mungai who is suspected to have drowned.
Mungai who has been missing since January 23, 2026, left home to deliver mangoes to a friend who he later accompanied to a funeral in Nyeri and he hasn’t been seen since then nor his body recovered.
According to his father Paul Kinuthia who spoke to KNA, Mungai received a call from a childhood friend based in Nairobi, requesting that he deliver mangoes at a stage known as Gwa Thamaki along the Kenol–Sagana Highway.
“Mungai was called by his friend, a man he grew up with, to deliver some mangoes from his mother,” Kinuthia said.
Later that day, when his mother contacted him, Mungai reportedly said he had decided to accompany the friend to Gathugu in Karatina, where they were attending a funeral.
The circumstances took a troubling turn on January 24, when Kinuthia received a call from a chief in Nyeri, informing him that preliminary information suggested a man who had drowned in River Sagana was believed to be his son.
Kinuthia and his wife immediately travelled to Nyeri County, where they joined local law enforcement officers in a search operation along Sagana River on January 25.
They were assisted by Kenya Red Cross officials from Nyeri, area residents and divers from Murang’a County. Despite the extensive search, no body was recovered.
“When we got there, the chief from Nyeri showed us pictures of clothes that had been collected at the riverbank,” Kinuthia said.
The items included a cap, T-shirt, jeans, belt, shoes and socks. However, Kinuthia and his wife said they could not conclusively identify the clothing as belonging to their son.
The family later engaged a private diver to continue the search, but the effort also yielded no results.
Kinuthia expressed skepticism over claims that adults who had attended a funeral would have gone swimming in the river.
He maintains that without a body or clear evidence linking his son to the alleged drowning, many questions remain unanswered.
In the days since the report, the distraught father says he has searched hospitals and mortuaries across the region without success.
As uncertainty deepens, the family is appealing to anyone with information about Nathaniel Mungai’s whereabouts to come forward and assist them or report to the nearest police station.