Kenyans working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have joined hands to give a befitting send-off to their three colleagues who died in a fire at an apartment in Sharjah.
The fire broke out on Sunday, March 13, 2025, in one of the high-rise residential blocs in Sharjah, UAE, killing five people.
However the number of casualties is expected to be higher as the police continue to identify the bodies which were burnt beyond recognition.
The Kenyan victims who have been identified and their families informed are Benjamin Kioko, Kenneth Kamau, and Ian Ndunguare.
This comes as the families of the three victims await the final report from Sharjah Police, who are expected to confirm the identity of the fourth victim and the cause of their deaths.
According to the fundraising organisers, the team is in the final stages of preparing to repatriate the bodies of the three Kenyans without too much difficulty for their respective families.
As of Tuesday morning, the team had collected Sh1 million against their target of Sh3.5 million.
The chances of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs helping the families financially to repatriate the bodies remain slim, as it has only been involved in paperwork in the past, which is also what they are currently doing in UAE.
One of the sources in UAE stated that the reason why they came together to assist with fundraising is that the three are among many Kenyans who are working in foreign countries with Freelance Visas, meaning that the companies that they are working for are limited when it comes to medical insurance and any other eventualities.
“The consulate, and embassies never come through when it comes to money and 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,” one of the sources said.
The source also appealed to Kenyans who are travelling to other countries for work to ensure that the companies that are taking them are clear on health insurance and other expenses including repatriation.
From the viral clips that were taken during the incident, the three Kenyans were trying to escape from the fire that broke out on the 44th floor of the 52-storey building using the cables.
However, the intensity of the fire and the height of the buildings were a challenge that stopped them from rescuing themselves.
It has also been reported that the rescue team from UAE arrived at the scene a few minutes after the fire broke out but they could not do much due to the state of the buildings around which prevented them from taking any action.
Initially, Kenyan Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs Dr Korir Sing’oei had stated that only two Kenyans had been affected by the incident and that they had activated the process of reaching out to their families.
“According to police, the fire incident caused the death of 5 people. Out of the 5, one is a Cameroonian, 2 are Kenyans who have been positively identified while 2 are yet to be fully identified. The cause of death of the 5 is yet to be known until the autopsy report is out,” the statement from the PS read.
