A young man was burnt beyond recognition when a room he was sleeping in was among seven razed down by fire in the outskirts of Nyahururu town.
The fire that broke out at around midnight on Friday, burnt down seven out of 16 rooms of timber walled houses in a residential plot at Chemichemi trading centre, next to Dimesse Sisters Catholic School, leaving several families homeless.
The man identified as Cyrus Warui was a renowned Paparazzi photographer in funeral ceremonies in both Laikipia and Nyandarua counties and parts of Nakuru County.
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Sources say he had spent the day in Subukia, Nakuru County on Friday, where a burial ceremony was taking place.
“After that, we returned to Nyahururu and he bid us goodbye at about 7.30 pm. I was shocked this morning (Saturday) to find a group of other paparazzi at the Nyahururu hospital mortuary mourning him,” one of the residents identified as Joseph Kuria aka Josmwa noted.
Kevin Ndung’u, who escaped the fire by a whisker after neighbours broke part of the wall to his room and dragged him out from his deep sleep just as the flames were about to spread to his wall, said he and Warui arrived from town at about 11 pm and each went to sleep in their respective rooms which were adjacent to each other.
“We visited a drinking joint before heading home to sleep. I woke up to find people dragging me out of my house fogged with smoke.
“When the people managed to evacuate me to a safe distance, I realized my friend’s room had already been consumed by the fire and nobody was talking about his whereabouts,” Ndung’u said.
The neighbours managed to stop the fire from spreading by destroying a room at the centre thus creating a buffer zone. By the time the fire engine from the Laikipia County government arrived the fire had completely razed down the seven rooms.
It is suspected the fire was started by a candle that had been left burning in one of the rooms and police are investigating the matter.
The body of the deceased was moved to the Nyahururu County hospital mortuary.
