A 32-year-old mother and her two children were burnt to death in their house in Cotton slums, Nairobi, on Saturday.
The children were aged three and six years. Another 30 people were left homeless after the fire razed down their houses.
The incident brings to 10 the number of people who have lost their lives in city fires in the last 14 days.
On June 11, three children died in a similar incident in Riruta. A four-year-old boy was among the three.
The fire is said to have started from one of the houses and spread to others on the estate.
The boy was asleep and perished after firefighters failed to access the house in time — there were no access roads. His parents were not at home at the time.
“Efforts to save the situation were futile. He died due to suffocation by carbon monoxide gas,” a police officer said.
Two children died in another fire incident in Shauri Moyo the same week.
The children were asleep in their house when the fire broke out. The inferno destroyed six houses.
Police said the remains of the children — aged five and two — were found by firefighters. Their parents were not around at the time. The fire is said to have been caused by a burning stove that was left unattended to. There are suspicions that illegal power connections might also have contributed to the slum fires.
Last month, Governor Evans Kidero resettled more than 2,800 people whose houses were burnt down in Kuwinda village, Karen, in March.