Pain of Kajiado family over son killed in Dubai fire

A family from Kitengela, Kajiado County, is pleading with the government for details on the death of their son, Benjamin Kioko, who died in a house fire in Dubai last week.
They claim the government has yet to officially communicate the circumstances surrounding his death.

The family complained that since Sunday, when their 23-year-old son was reported to be among three Kenyans who perished during the inferno, no official communication has been made.

"We have tried to reach the embassy through our area MP in vain. No government official has communicated to us about the death, and we are in the dark," said Anthony Muli, the father.

Muli said that the family only received reports of their son from friends. ''We received a call from a friend who informed us that our son has died after jumping from the rooftop of the building.

He also questioned low response during the incident, saying his son kept waiting to be rescued for more than one hour.

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''We have watched the video circulating in social media and have felt so bad, how do we just lose our son like that, and no one wants to speak about it?" said Muli.

He said an official from the United Arab Emirates embassy only communicated to the family once through a phone call, but later went silent.

''What we want to hear is communication from our government so that we can start burial preparations for our son. We are in the dark, and left without knowing what to do,'' said Eveline Nzilani, the mother.

Kioko is the first born in a family of three, he traveled to Dubai seeking for greener pasture though an agent who late abandoned him.

He has been working as a casual labourer in different business premises until his death.

The incident occurred after the fire swept through an apartment building in Al-Ras neighborhood, an older neighborhood of Dubai, killing at least 16 people and injuring nine.

According to The National, a UAE-based newspaper, the Dubai Civil Defense said preliminary investigations indicate the fire was caused by non-compliance with building safety regulations. Authorities are conducting a full investigation to determine the exact cause.

Dubai, one of the seven emirates of the UAE, has a population of about 3.3 million, nearly 90% of whom are foreigners.

Fires have broken out in skyscrapers in Dubai and other fast-growing cities in the UAE in recent years. In 2017, a major blaze occurred at a high-rise under construction near the city’s largest shopping mall. Two years earlier, on New Year’s Eve, a fire engulfed a five-star hotel, injuring several people.