'Nandi chopper accident victim died in my arms'

What began as an ordinary Sabbath Day for Jacobeth Jeptoo turned tragic later.  Jeptoo recalled that she and her mother failed to return to church for the afternoon service because of heavy rains.

The two instead stayed indoors for Bible study until about 4.30 pm, when they heard a loud bang coming from the direction of a forest near their home.

On learning that a helicopter had crashed, she knew she had a duty to try to save lives.

Grabbing a first aid kit, she and her mother ran to the scene, where they found four men attempting to retrieve the bodies of two victims trapped inside the burning wreckage of the helicopter.

They managed to extinguish the fire and pull out the bodies, but the two men were unfortunately already dead. At that point, she noticed four other victims of the crash lying a few metres away. Two of them appeared to be alive.

“They were writhing in pain,” she recalled.

Jeptoo, 22, who graduated from Kendu School of Medical Sciences just a month ago, could only rely on the first aid skills she had acquired during her Diploma in Nursing training. Wearing gloves for protection, she began attending to the injured.

Hundreds of residents gathered at the scene, shocked by the crash near their homes. Many hesitated to assist, leaving her largely on her own to assess the survivors.

“No one knew that Johana Ng’eno or any prominent person was among the victims. The survivors were between 30 and 40 metres from where the aircraft was burning, which made it easier to attend to them away from the flames,” she said.

First aid

It is suspected that the two men either jumped from the helicopter mid-air or were thrown out when it struck the treetops.

From her assessment, Jeptoo said one of the victims had sustained severe internal injuries. He was bleeding from the mouth and ears, with swelling around the neck.

The other man fought for his life for some time, and she believes he might have survived with faster medical intervention.

“He would occasionally lift his hand in pain, perhaps asking for help. All I could do was administer first aid — control the bleeding and help him breathe — as we waited for an ambulance,” she said.

Every minute was critical. She held him close to her chest to ensure he continued breathing, but he died about 30 minutes later.

“He died in my arms. Those around me felt helpless. Efforts to call an ambulance were futile. It arrived two hours later when it was too late,” she said.

Jeptoo described the experience as devastating and unlike anything she had encountered during her training.

“I was frightened, but I had to do whatever I could to save lives. I remembered what one of my lecturers, Betty, taught me: if you cannot add days to a patient’s life, you can at least help them die peacefully. I believe the victim I tried to help died peacefully,” she said.

She asked her mother, Magdaline Bittok, for bed sheets and a wrapper to cover the bodies as they awaited evacuation. After learning that Emurua Dikir MP Ng’eno was among the victims, she positively identified him.

Social media posts

She said Ng’eno and the pilot, Captain George Were, had suffered severe burns.

“The incident devastated me. During my clinical placements, I had never encountered such a tragic scene,” said Jeptoo, who is due to sit her licensing examination in May before seeking employment.

She also expressed disappointment at some onlookers who chose to take photographs and share them on social media instead of helping.

“In the event of an accident, people should prioritise saving lives. Horrific scenes do not need to be recorded and shared. It is unfair to the victims’ loved ones,” she said.

Her mother praised her daughter’s courage but lamented the loss of lives in the helicopter accident.

“Our hearts go out to the families who have lost their loved ones. We tried to save them, but unfortunately, they lost their lives,” she said.

The helicopter crashed on Saturday in poor weather, killing five people, including MP Ng’eno, Captain Were, cameraman Nick Kosgei, Carlos Keter, Wycliffe Rono, and Amos Kiprotich Ng’etich.