Two children burnt to death in Kiambu apartment blaze
Two children burnt to death in Kiambu apartment blaze
Police in Gachie, Kiambu County, on Thursday, October 22, 2026, launched investigations after two children died in a devastating house fire, while a third child survived following a dramatic rescue from the balcony of a fourth-floor apartment.
The tragedy has left residents demanding answers as detectives seek to establish whether the fire was accidental or deliberately started.
The children were inside the house when flames broke out, trapping them as the fire spread.
Neighbours rushed to the scene after discovering the burning apartment, with witnesses describing desperate attempts to save the children.
One child was spotted on the balcony of the fourth-floor apartment, desperately calling for help as flames threatened the building.
Joash Ondieki, one of the rescuers, described the terrifying moments as residents struggled to reach the stranded child.
“I did not want to fail that child, and I did not want to fail that child who was staring at us while shouting, ‘Help, help! Please help, please help, please help!’ I had to do it,” Ondieki said.
Another neighbour, Kevin Bahati, described how residents coordinated their rescue efforts.
“Nkamwambia Juma, ‘Usichoke kushika mtoto mtupe hapa chini…’” Bahati recalled.
Their intervention saved one child, but two others could not be rescued from the burning house.
The deaths have raised questions about how the fire started and why the children were unable to escape.
Kennedy Njau, the children’s father, said the mother had indicated that she locked the children inside the house before leaving.
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“Mama mwenyewe alisema alifungia watoto kwa nyumba,” Njau stated.
He questioned the circumstances surrounding the fire and called for investigations to establish its cause.
“Atajua kwenye moto ilitoka,” he said, referring to the unanswered questions surrounding the incident.
Njau expressed anguish over the deaths, describing the victims as innocent children whose lives had ended tragically.
“This story is not like any other story… should not be like any other story. Two innocent lives,” he said.
Police are now expected to establish the fire’s origin, examine the circumstances under which the children were left inside and determine whether any criminal offence occurred.
The cause of the fire remains unconfirmed, and investigators have not established that it was deliberately started.
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