Family mourns two relatives killed in Toi Market inferno

About 200 metres from Toi Market which was razed down on Saturday morning, we arrive at a one-roomed house.

The owner, Margaret Atieno, is seated holding her chin and in deep thought. She is yet to come to terms with the death of his firstborn, 35-year-old Kevin Ochieng.

It all started on Saturday at 5 am when she received a distress call that the market was on fire and that she should rescue her property.

"Wakati nilipigwa simu ya kwamba soko ya Toi inachomeka mimi nikapigia kijana yangu huyu amechoka simu kwa sababu pia yeye ako na biashara tukaenda Toi kuokoa vitu,” she tells Citizen TV.

Ochieng first went to check on her mother's stall before proceeding to his wife's three stalls.

At this moment, the fire had not spread. However, hell broke loose when Atieno received reports that the son was missing and that the fire had reached his wife's stalls.

A search started and that is when they discovered four bodies which at the time had not been burnt beyond recognition.

“Niliambia kijana atoe mabati ziko karibu na kibanda vile alimaliza tu kutoa tukapata bado wanachomeka na wanaweza kujulikana na kijana akashout ndio huyu Billy, me nikangalia nikaona kijana yangu akiwa amechomeka,” she narrates.

To her shock, Ochieng was not alone but he was in the company of her sister-in-law Janet Kweyu who had also rushed to rescue her sister's property.

“Wakitoa miili tukapata ni kijana yangu amechomeka ameisha na shemeji yake pia amechomeka ameisha na wengine wawili ambao hatukuwatambua,” says Atieno.

His death is a big blow to her younger sister, Pauline Atieno who is set to join Kenya Medical Training College and was hopeful that Ochieng, a headteacher at a private school in Kibera was going to fund her education.

“Zima moto ingefika mapema ndugu yangu hangeungua hapo ndani, Billy hangechomeka ... I was supposed to join on September 10th sasa hakuna mwenye atalipa hiyo school fees juu Billy had the plan,” Ochieng's sister says.

With the bodies having been burnt beyond recognition, the family will have to wait longer to bury their loved ones.

First, they are expected to give samples to test for DNA before the remains are released.

The two other charred bodies are yet to be identified.

Meanwhile, at the destroyed Toi Market, some of the affected traders have already started reconstructing their stalls a day after the inferno happened.