Five killed, 3 injured in Mombasa house fire
Old Town residents at the scene where five people died while three others were injured when a two-storey house caught fire on February 2, 2022.
Five people including a nine-year-old boy died, while three others were injured after a two-storey building caught fire in Kibokoni, Old Town, Mombasa County on Wednesday morning.
Eyewitnesses told Nation.Africa that the fire erupted in one of the houses before spreading to an adjacent one, killing the five people.
Kenya Red Cross Mombasa Coordinator Mohammed Rajab said the cause of the fire is yet to be established.
“Unfortunately, we have lost the five people while the injured ones have been rushed to Pandya and Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospitals,” said Mr Rajab.
The firefighters and an ambulance had a hard time accessing the scene of the fire due to congestion and narrow streets. Witnesses said that a new traffic model that was enforced by the county government on Monday, also contributed to a delay in reaching the scene.
“The mother of the nine-year-old boy who died in the inferno escaped with other children while a couple died in their house,” said Mr Adam Hussein who witnessed the incident.
He added, “We just heard a blast and saw huge flames and smoke on the second floor, the fire was spreading fast.”
Mr Mahmoud Ibrahim who lost his sister Faiza Ali and his brother-in-law Jamal Ahmed accused the county government of laxity.
“We want the bodies of our kin for burial, my sister Faiza rescued one of her children but she succumbed when she went to rescue another one. Their other child is fighting for his life in hospital,” he said.
