Six people die following fire incident in Laikipia County

Six people among them a mother and her three children died on Tuesday night when a fire burnt down their wooden houses in Matanya village in Laikipia Central.

The other two victims were members of another family.

According to Laikipia Central OCPD Ben Changulo, the fire started at around midnight when the families were asleep.

He said the police are investigating the incident as the houses were not connected to electricity.

"We are surprised by this incident and we are still investigating the cause of the fire. The wooden houses are not connected to electricity" he told the Standard Digital.

According to residents, they heard cries and wails from the victims only to wake up and find the houses on fire.

Michael Njenga said when they went to rescue the victims, they found the mother and her three children already dead.

“We found the bodies of the four in their bedroom and their house had been burnt down. They were sleeping in the same bedroom" he said

He said that when they visited the other house, they found two other victims, a man and his wife, struggling to get out.

They died immediately after being rescued.

"It was a shock for all of us and we struggled to rescue them only for them to die as we watched. We still do not know the cause of the fire" said Njenga.

According to the OCPD, the police have been deployed to the area to establish what caused the incident that has the entire village mourning.

Laikipia governor- elect Ndiritu Muriithi has condoled with the family and promised that they would be assisted with the burial arrangements.

He said that firefighting equipment would be provided in every sub county to help during such incidents.

"This is a sad day for the people of Laikipia. We will do everything possible to help the families. More so, firefighting equipment will be supplied to every sub-county to prevent such incidents" he said.

The bodies were moved to Nanyuki County Referral Hospital mortuary.