Malindi couple, six children perish in fire

A family of eight perished when their house caught fire in Malindi, Kilifi County.

The deputy Principal of Malindi High School, Mr Kilatya Kituku, his wife Regina Ndaka and their six children, died in the Thursday night fire believed to have been caused by an electrical fault, leaving teachers and students in shock.

The children aged between 13 and one and a half years are: Newton, 13, Patrick, 11, Samuel, Elijah and twins Gloria and Sharon, one and half years.

Mr Kituku had just been promoted to deputy principal last week and had moved his family into the house on Sunday.

They had not even unpacked some of the household items.

According to Ms Rosemary Mwangangi, their house help, the area had been experiencing power fluctuation the whole day.

“I switched off the power because I was afraid something bad might happen. When Ms Ndaka came back in the evening I explained to her the situation and went home as usual,” she said, adding that when she left the house, they were using candles.

It was not clear what time Mr Kituku arrived home or the time the family retired to bed. “I was shocked to be told this morning (Friday) that the family is no more,” Ms Mwangangi said in tears.

The principal, Mr Emmanuel Kitsao, said he was woken up by screams, but earlier “there had been a loud explosion which I suspect could have been a gas cylinder or the fuel tank of a motor bike inside the teacher’s house”.

Mr Kitsao said he rushed out of his house and saw smoke and a huge fire in Mr Kituku’s house. He added that he alerted the students who with the help of other teachers tried to put out the fire, but the roof had caved in.

The fire brigade arrived but ran out of water forcing them leave for more water.

Students said they were woken up by a teacher who told them there was a fire.

“We tried to put it out using water to no avail,” said Michael Nzai, a Form Two student, adding that they saved two children who died on arrival at Tawfiq Hospital.

“Every Thursday there is power rationing but yesterday there were unusual outages,” he added.

Area police boss Kiprono Lagat said investigations were ongoing