Fire kills elderly man in suspected arson incident

One person has died after a fire broke out in a house in Baptist area within West Pokot County.

The 61-year-old man, who is not yet identified was burnt beyond recognition in the Wednesday night inferno.

West Pokot Sub County Police Commander Julius Kyumbele said the fire broke out at 8.00 pm on Wednesday night and fire fighters responded and managed to put off the fire.

He said the cause of the fire cannot be established and police officers have launched investigations to establish what might have caused the fire.

“The wife to the deceased said before the fire started she heard an explosion, the fire was extinguished within the shortest time,” he said.

The body of the deceased was moved to Kapenguria Referral Hospital morgue.

 Abdul Kasim who is one of the neighbours said he heard the wife of the deceased screaming for help after the fire broke out.

“We entered into the house but the huge fire had already consumed the man, we suspect there is a person who poured petrol inside the house and set the house on fire,” he said.

The village elder Mary Chepoisho said they could not establish if the suspect poured petrol on the man who was sleeping on the bed or he poured it around the house

“I will investigate until we get the culprit. Why did he target the man? All things that were in his bedroom were engulfed by fire, the man was totally burnt,” she said.