Efforts are currently underway to extinguish a fire that broke out on a building in Nairobi's River Road area.
Amateur clips shared on social media platforms showed onlookers watching from the ground as the top floor of the building, said to be Nairobi Mall, got consumed in flames.
Smoke could be seen billowing from the windows as flames flashed over intensely.
The cause of the inferno was, however, yet to be established at the time of this publication, but police and emergency responders from the county government showed up at the scene and immediately embarked on evacuating the people in the affected building and preventing the fire from spreading to the adjoining high-rise structures.
Business owners whose wares were housed in the building were left to count losses as the fire reduced everything on the affected floor to ashes.
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No injuries were reported at the scene at the time of publishing, even with the wait for an official statement from the authorities regarding the incident.
Nairobi county has been reporting fire incidents, some deadly, at close intervals in the recent past.
A few weeks back, at least five people died following a fire incident in Mathare slums.
The deadly fire broke out on Monday, May 19, at around 2 AM in the Mathare B slums.
Nairobi Police Commander George Sedah confirmed the incident, saying the fire started from one of the iron sheet structures before it spread to the others.
According to Sedah, the victims, who include three adults and two children, were sleeping when the fire broke out and killed them.
“We understand the victims were sleeping when the fire broke out, killing five of them. Four others are in the hospital with serious injuries,” Sedah stated.
The blaze flattened at least eight iron sheet homes and two churches, leaving several families without shelter
The Nairobi police boss also noted four other locals sustained serious injuries during the fire and were taken to the local MSF hospital.
Fire engines from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and Nairobi County Government were deployed to the scene to contain the huge fire.
The bodies of the deceased were moved to the mortuary pending autopsy and other investigations.
