Three young siblings two girls and a boy aged between one and five died on Thursday evening after a fire consumed their locked house in Kinda village, Ugunja sub-location.

​The tragedy occurred at around 5:50 p.m. while their mother, a local business owner in Ugunja town, was away.

​Rescuers who rushed to the scene were unable to save the children, who had been locked inside the house, a practice local administration noted was routine while the mother was at work.

​Geofrey Ochieng, one of the first responders, said efforts to break down the locked door were hampered by the intense flames.

​”We tried to break the door, but unfortunately, when we got inside, the three children had already died,” Ochieng said. “We tried, but we failed.”

​Ochieng pointed to a lack of immediate emergency equipment as a major hurdle, explaining that rescuers had to search far for a fire extinguisher.

He urged the government to decentralize firefighting equipment by equipping local police stations to handle similar emergencies in the future.

​George Oduor Opondo, the Senior Assistant Chief of Ugunja sub-location, confirmed the incident, describing the scene as heartbreaking.

​Neighbors suspect the blaze may have been triggered by a sack of hot charcoal that was left inside the house.

​”I am pained that three children burned inside the house while locked in,” said local resident Nyamombasa. “I have been educating my fellow women to stop locking children inside when they are away and instead let them play outside with neighbors’ children.”

​Following the incident, Assistant Chief Opondo urged community members to foster stronger relationships with their neighbors and strictly warned parents against locking children unattended inside homes.

​Police have launched an investigation into the incident, and the bodies of the deceased were retrieved from the scene.