Four children and their mother were left nursing severe burn wounds after a drum of hot fluid at an illegal distillery exploded.
The children from Cheplel, Kericho, were scalded as they slept close to the fireplace where the pot came to a boiling point and burst, spreading the hot fluid all over.
Kericho County Health Services Department Chief Officer, Dr David Ekuwam, stated that the four children were fighting for their lives at the Kericho County hospital.
Ekuwam also disclosed that the eldest of the four children was six years while the youngest had just turned 3 months old
The two other children fighting for their lives at the high dependency unit was a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old respectively.
"The percentage of the burned area was well over 20% and we, therefore, transferred them to the burns unit," a doctor at the hospital, Dr Willy Tunui disclosed to Citizen TV.
A Member of County Assembly (MCA) from Kapsoit ward, Paul Chirchir, stated that he would write to the various security offices at the county as well as national level, highlighting the failure at the local level to tackle illicit breweries.
"We have been going on and on about the rapid rise of illicit distilleries within the area in Kapsoit but our pleas as the people have always fallen on deaf ears," Chirchir stated while speaking outside the Kericho County hospital.
The horrific accident comes barely a month since a report released on April 30, 2019, revealed that Kericho county made more than Ksh1 million from fines of illicit brew in one month.
