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Sinai fire tragedy: Death toll rises to seven
Firefighters extinguish a huge inferno that engulfed shops in Juakali area near Nairobi City Stadium on January 30, 2023.
The death toll from Tuesday night's fire tragedy in the Majengo slums of Pumwani, Nairobi County, has risen to seven.
County Chief Officer for Disaster Management Bramwel Simiyu on Wednesday said three adults and four children had died.
“The fire, suspected to have been caused by an illegal electricity connection, affected over 70 households, and caused seven deaths— three adults and four children,” Mr Simiyu said.
In the incident, 19 people sustained injuries and were taken to hospital with varying degrees of burns.
The county said the emergency teams and police worked through the night to control the situation and assist survivors.
“The disaster management officers are onsite today carrying out post-disaster needs assessment.”
Mr Simiyu termed the incident as unfortunate, saying the county responded to the calls but it was too late to rescue the six people who were burned to death. One survivor succumbed while receiving treatment.
“This is quite unfortunate. We have sent the team to the ground and we will be issuing a comprehensive statement in the course of the day,” Mr Simiyu said.
Kenya Red Cross also took part in the rescue mission.
"Together with the Nairobi City County Fire Department and community members, we have managed to contain a fire incident in Kitui Village in Majengo, Nairobi. The Kenya Red Cross remains on-site, supporting efforts to locate missing persons," Red Cross said through its social media accounts.
The tragedy happened barely two months after 21 deaths were recorded in a month’s fire-related cases.
Earlier, while appearing before Nairobi County Assembly Committee of Culture, Mr Simiyu said the devolved unit was struggling with containing cases of fire due to the breakdown of fire engines.
He revealed that only five engines were working across the county, at the time when cases of fire were rampant, mostly in informal areas.
