Nakuru mother, two daughters perish in house fire
Police officers carry the remains of a mother and her two daughters who died when their house in Manyani Estate in Nakuru caught fire
Three people died early Wednesday morning when a fire razed their house in Manyani estate, Nakuru East sub-county.
Residents reported to the authorities that a house was on fire in the Manyani slums, said Nakuru East sub-county Deputy Police Commander Wilson Nduati.
After the fire was put out, police established that three people – a mother and her two daughters – had died in the house.
The cause of the fire was not immediately established but some residents suspected it might have been caused by an electric fault.
“The three were burnt beyond recognition. We have launched investigations to establish the cause of the fire. The bodies of the three were moved to the Nakuru municipal mortuary,” said Mr Nduati.
The single mother’s son, Kenan Muchemi, 19, who recently completed high school, is now the only remaining living member of the family. He escaped death because he was no longer living with his mother and siblings.
Mr Muchemi said he lives with his cousins in a neighbouring estate and occasionally checked up on his family. He said he learned of the tragedy when he arrived in the morning and found neighbours trying to extinguish the fire.
He joined the rescue mission hoping that his family had managed to escape unhurt and were among the crowd, only to learn later that they had all perished.
“My mother Judy Nyambura and my two sisters Shadiya Wangare, 17, and Limsy Wanjiru, 11, were in the house. I did not even have the strength to view the bodies,” said the distraught teenager.
Kennedy Otieno, a neighbour, said he was alerted about the fire by a resident who had spotted unusual smoke coming out of the roof.
They attempted to put out the fire with water from a construction site as they waited for firefighters.
Mr George Karanja, another witness, said that as they attempted to douse the fire, they were not sure whether there were people in the house.
By the time they broke the door and got inside, the fire had spread.
“The living room was full of smoke. We crawled into the house calling out but got no response. We dashed out of the house after an explosion that spread the fire to all the rooms,” Mr Karanja said.
