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Two children burnt to death in Embu house fire
Two children died after their house caught fire in Gakwegori village.
A village in Embu County was Saturday thrown into mourning after two children died after their house caught fire in Gakwegori village.
The victims, a five-year-old boy and his sister, four, were burnt beyond recognition in the Saturday night inferno.
According to witnesses, the children’s mother locked them up before she left.
Upon returning home, she found her house on fire and raised an alarm, attracting scores of residents who fought the fire for hours before putting it out. It was, however, too late to rescue the children.
Area assistant chief Joseph Maina said it was unfortunate the two minors lost their lives.
"The mother locked the house from outside and went away. When she returned, she found a huge fire had engulfed the house. Had she not locked the door from outside, the children could have been saved," Mr Maina said.
He warned parents against locking up their children in their houses.
The administrator said the cause of the fire could not be immediately established.
“Investigations have been commenced with a view to establishing what really happened," he added
The bodies of the victims were taken to Embu Referral Hospital mortuary.
A resident, Susan Nyaga described the incident as a great loss to the family. She blamed the county firefighters for taking too long to respond to the fire incident.
"The county firefighters were alerted early enough but they took too much time to arrive at the scene," she said.
This incident comes barely two weeks after another one in which three children were burnt beyond recognition in Gachuriri village Mbeere South in a house fire.
