House fire in Kwale kills mother, three children

A mother and her three children died in a house fire in Taru, Kwale County, on Friday night.

Area police boss Fred Ombaka said the fire, whose cause was not immediately established, was reported at around 10pm by the chief.

He said he sent an emergency response team to the scene as soon as he received the report from a member of the public.

They, however, could not rescue the mother and her children from the house within Taru Trading Centre.

"The three were inside the house when the fire broke out. We are investigating the case," said Mr Ombaka.

Taru chief Raphael Rurumo said the house belonged to Hussein Mwanyikombo, a teacher at Egu Primary School.

According to nyumba kumi representative Muthui Makau, Mr Mwanyikombo had gone to watch football at the trading centre at the time of the incident.

Mr Makau said it is suspected that the incident happened after a PVC carpet caught fire.

"There was no power at the time so the family had lit a candle. I think they might have fallen sleep without extinguishing it.”

The four bodies were taken to the Kinango mortuary.