By Wanja Waweru
A three-year-old child on Thursday night perished in a fire that broke out in their home in the Kibera slums of Nairobi County.
The incident was reported to the police by Mr. Charles Owino of Raila Slums, who claimed to have received a call at 7:40 a.m. warning him of a fire outbreak nearby.
The fire had been put out by the time police arrived on the scene, but locals had discovered Favour Rioba’s lifeless body inside what had formerly been their home.
The police said the child’s mother, Ms Caren Rioba, 23, before the incident happened, had earlier on in the day left her house for her sister’s place to seek financial support.
“She alleged that she had left the house and went to her sister to ask money to buy food and on her way back she noticed her house was on fire,” the police said in a report.
Before the child’s body was transported to the Nairobi City Mortuary, officers processed the scene. It has not yet been determined what started the fire.
The event occurred just a week after a fire catastrophe at Uthiru village, Kabete Constituency, in Kiambu county, which claimed the lives of two children.
The two—a nine-year-old and a four-year-old—died on Tuesday after their home caught fire, destroying items worth thousands of shillings.
To prevent future losses, locals urged Kiambu County Government to build emergency fire stations in adjacent towns.
