Three suffocate to death in Mukuru slums, Nairobi after inhaling carbon monoxide

Nairobi, Kenya: Three people suffocated in their room in Mukuru slums, Nairobi.

The two women and a man are thought to have died after inhaling carbon monoxide gas from a jiko that was in their house.

The jiko had a mixture of beans and maize (nyoyo) when police arrived to pick up the bodies long after they had died.

Witnesses and police said the deceased are Uganda nationals and had been living in the house for the past few months.

Makadara OCPD Nehemiah Langat said they found a boiling mixture of beans and maize popularly known as nyoyo on the jiko.

“We suspect they died after inhaling carbon monoxide from the jiko. They had no physical injuries at the time the bodies were discovered,” said Langat.

Langat said they were called and informed of the incident long after it had happened.

The police boss said such incidents have been common in the area and urged residents to avoid keeping burning jikos in their houses.

He added they would carry out post mortem exercise on the body to further establish what caused the death in as much as the jiko is suspected to have caused it.

Last Sunday, Mammy Rugina, a sister to gospel musician Angela Chibalonza was found dead in a bathroom in Embakasi in a similar incident.

She had tried to use a burning jiko boiling a concoction of herbal medicine to treat a flu when she died in the bathroom.

Police were called to the house long after the incident had happened and moved the body to the mortuary.