Three killed as fire razes lodging in Nairobi   

What you need to know:

  • By Tuesday night, relatives of one of the victims had reported to the police that their kin had slept in the lodging.

  • The identity of the other two, including a woman who was selling tea within the premises at the time of the accident, is not known.

  • The fire is suspected to have been caused by a gas cylinder explosion in a neighbouring hotel.

Police were on Wednesday trying to ascertain the identity of two of the three people who died in a fire that razed down a lodging near the Kenya Bus station within Nairobi’s Central Business District.

Nairobi area police boss Philip Ndolo ruled out arson as the motive behind a dawn fire at a lodging near Afya Centre that left two men and a woman burnt beyond recognition.

SELLING TEA

By Tuesday night, relatives of one of the victims had reported to the police that their kin had slept in the lodging.

The identity of the other two, including a woman who was selling tea within the premises at the time of the accident, is not known.

“We have already established the identity of one of the victims. We are waiting for the rest of the bodies to be claimed by relatives,” said Mr Ndolo.

The fire is suspected to have been caused by a gas cylinder explosion in a neighbouring hotel before spreading to the lodging that had had six people on Tuesday night.

Acting Central Police Commander Raphael Gaa, who visited the scene, confirmed that of the six, three were bus drivers, a female hawker, a trolley pusher and the lodge’s receptionist Nixon Muganda.

EXPLOSION

Mr Muganda and two others managed to escape when they heard the explosion. The bodies were discovered by the police in the rubble after the fire had been put off. Property of unknown value was destroyed in the 5.30 am incident.

The three bodies were taken to City Mortuary.