Fifteen people have died and 70 others were injured when a fire swept through a market and nearby homes in central Nairobi in the early hours of Thursday.
According to a senior official, the blaze broke out in a timber yard, and spread through Gikomba market and nearby apartments and shanties before being contained.
Gikomba is one of the largest informal markets located in the densely crowded downtown part of the city.
Traders sell everything from second-hand clothes to hardware. The market is not foreign to fires and has been damaged several times before.
Nairobi Senator, Sakaja Johnson says, “Some of the victims of this morning’s fire were taken to Kenyatta National Hospital. Dozens more have been injured in the fire.”
Hospital officials said there were four children among the dead. However, the cause of the fire is yet to be established.
