A middle aged woman died after her house caught fire caused by a refrigerator explosion in Mwanzo estate, Eldoret Uasin Gishu County.
The woman who was asleep at the time of the incident together with her 2 sons died at the house.
One of her sons who is a form 3 student managed to escape from the house through a window while the other son who is a university graduate was however injured and he is undergoing treatment at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) at Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Items which were in the kitchen were destroyed by the fire which did not spread to other rooms. It is suspected that the woman died because of inhaling toxic gases.
Attempts by the neighbors to rescue the woman bore no fruit as she had already died when a boda boda rider managed to access the house after breaking the main door.
“We heard her screaming saying; ‘majirani tusaidieni tunakufa’, and thought it was a drunkard neighbor who usually comes home late making noises” said Lydia Muya commonly known as ‘mama mtaa’ in the estate.
“It is hard for us to get out at night because there is a lot of insecurity and again the police usually arrest us the youth as from 8pm at night everyday so that is why we did not get out of our houses to help mama Tabby” said Joseph one of the youths in Mwanzo.
The residents claim this is not the first fire incident in the recent past and they are `blaming electricity to be one of the main causes of houses fires.
The body of the woman was taken to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary.
The cause of the explosion is yet to be established, police have said they have launched investigations into the matter.
Uasin Gishu County police boss Samuel Mutunga confirmed the incident adding that police were investigating the tragedy.
Meanwhile the body of the deceased was moved to the MTRH Mortuary.
By Rono Robinson.
