Six Family Members Burned To Death In Murang'a

At around 1:30 a.m., neighbors heard screams coming from the house and hurried to the scene, where they saw smoke rising from the house and the door locked from the outside.

The house was already covered in fire and overwhelmed those trying to extinguish the fire.

“We could not save anything by then, since the house was almost consumed by fire and it is unfortunate we lost the aged mother, together with her children and grandchildren,” Njoki, a neighbor said.

The six members in the house were a grandmother, her three children, and two grandchildren who were burnt beyond recognition as the fierce fire was uncontrollable and the attempts to put it out bore no success.

Margaret Wambui, 60 was the mother to Cecilia Gathoni 30, Lucy Mumbi, 18, Margaret Wanja, 15, and grandmother to Jackline Wambui, 7, and Alvin Kiarie, 3 are the victims of the night fire.

The police are investigating the incident suspected to be arson as one member is being considered the key suspect in the case.

Alice Nyambura, managed to escape from the house with her belongings unarmed, angering the neighbors as she had not made any effort to try and rescue her family from the burning house.

She is in police custody and is expected to help the police in the investigations of the matter. Residents claimed that the suspect was Margaret’s sister and the two were involved in land disputes which might have contributed to the deaths of the family members.

Locals had called police officers to the site, but the mother, her three daughters, and two of her grandkids had already died, according to Murang'a county police commander Mr. Ali Nuno, who confirmed the occurrence.

“We are doing investigations as we have a suspect with us, who is a member of the family of the late Joseph Njoroge but from preliminary investigations, the family was rocked in a land succession case. The suspect will assist us in investigations,” the police commander said.