Two children aged four and two were on Monday night burnt to death in their house in Kijabe along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway.
Members of the public who were unable to contain the inferno watched in horror as the house where the children slept, was reduced to ashes in Mukeu village.
Their mother had ferried vegetables to Nairobi's Gikomba market while their father, who is a small-scale trader in the village, was not in when the incident occurred.
Emotions ran high following the incident as police moved in to collect the bodies of the boy and girl before taking them to Naivasha Subcounty Hospital mortuary.
A village elder, James Karoki, said they suspect the fire was caused by an electric fault.
He said the father had left the house briefly for the nearby shopping centre, leaving the children sleeping in the house.
“When he came back the house was on fire. It’s suspected that an electric coil in the house could have caused the inferno,” Karoki said.
A senior police officer from Kijabe police station confirmed the incident adding that an inquest file had been opened.
“We suspect an electric fault could have caused the fire, which led to the death of the two minors, who were alone at the time of the incident,” the senior officer said.
Meanwhile, child activists in Gilgil have rescued a four-year-old girl who had been physically abused by her mother using a hot wire.
The minor who had deep wounds on her back and legs was taken to a children's home.
Police are yet to arrest the woman despite the case being reported in the station.
Sakina Mohammed from Lifebloom International Services said cases of child abuse and neglect are on the rise in the town.
“In this case the woman has been using a hot wire to discipline the girl and we are asking the police to arrest and charge her in court,” she said.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
