The families of three Kenyans who died in a fire in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), are in limbo over repatriation of their loved ones as costs have proven too high to meet.
The three — Benjamin Kioko, Kenneth Kamau and Ian Ndunguare — are among five people who died after a fire broke out in a residential building on Sunday March 13.
The cause of the inferno was determined to be an electrical fault that caused an overload in the building's transformer. According to the Sharjah Civil Defence Authority, this, coupled with high temperatures, caused the fire.
As of Thursday, Kenyans living and working in UAE had managed to collect $9,200 (about Sh1.2 million) against their target of $27,000 (Ksh3.5 million) to give a befitting send-off to their three colleagues.
A source in the UAE, who didn’t want to be identified for fear of retribution by local authorities, said the reason they came together to help is that the three are among many Kenyans working with freelance visas, meaning that the companies that hired them are limited when it comes to medical insurance and any other eventualities.
The source added that they also wanted to make the burden of families easier as the chances that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would help financially remain slim.
“The consulate and embassies never come through when it comes to money...they are only involved in paperwork only. The family takes care of the repatriation of the body and other expenses. This is very unfortunate and the ministry needs to do something. Whenever such things happen, because this is not the first time, it is upon Kenyans in the said country to contribute to support the families.”
But what does it take to repatriate the body of a loved one from UAE or any other country back home for burial? Read more here.
