Lying unconcious on railway tracks
By MARK AGUTU
A labourer was beaten unconscious by muggers and then laid across a railway line to be killed.
The 31-year-old man escaped death but lost his right arm and left leg when the night train to Naivasha ran over him. But in spite of his appalling injuries, courageous Crispine Muhembi Murunga is now steadily rebuilding his life and looking forward to marrying the girl who has stayed faithfully by his side.
Crispine owes his life to quick action by the engine driver and his crew who stopped the train and called for help over their radio. Rescuers from Naivasha district hospital who rushed to the scene in an ambulance found Crispine lying face-up, sandwiched between the two rails.
He was in a coma and bleeding profusely from his wounds. From his bed at Rift Valley provincial general hospital, where he is recovering from his ordeal, Crispine told the Nation he was attacked by three men near Delamere Farm as he walked home from work, at dusk.
They beat him unconscious with metal bars and clubs.
Crispine added: "I never knew what happened thereafter as I came to in hospital where I was told I had been unconscious for two days.
"From what I was told, the thugs wanted to create an impression that I fell on the railway tracks on my own. And that is what my people would have believed if I had not survived to tell the truth."
He praised the doctors at the hospital for the surgery which saved his life and for their constant monitoring and treatment since the attack, on March 18.
He was still trying to come to terms with how close to death he had been and his dual disability.
Dr Enos Muguku, who is taking care of Crispine, said he was now out of danger.
"We have successfully completed the amputations and he is in a stable condition. We have just been working on the wounds to eliminate the slight infections that had begun to set in," he said.
Hospital superintendent Dr John Kibosia said Crispine would need two sets of artificial limbs to enable him carry on with his life.
Crispine appealed for public assistance to help him settle back to normal life.
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