Two families in Nyaori, Kisumu County, were in mourning after their sons suffocated to death while playing.
The boys' mothers, Josephine Akoth, a teacher and Josephine Adhiambo, a trader, were inconsolable following the tragedy. The two suffocated while playing in a broken-down car in a deserted parking yard.
Two-year-old Justin Bruno and three-and-a-half-year-old John Paul Mboya died in the car, while another child, John Mboya, who was also with them, is still fighting for his life in hospital.
Ms Akoth, Paul's mother, said on the fateful Sunday she was preparing for church: "I prepared breakfast for Paul before he ran outside to play," she said, adding that when she went outside to look for him, she could not find him.
Akoth went to Bruno's mother's house hoping to get her son there. "Adhiambo told me the two were playing outside her house but it seemed Bruno had gone to sleep. When she went checked inside the house, he was also missing," said Akoth.
READ MORE
Guidelines launched to reduce maternal deaths
Stroke spiking in younger adults, new study reveals
Silent tragedy: Understanding Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
UN says proportion of women killed in conflict doubled in 2023
Their search led them to Kilo, 500m from Nyaori, where they found a huge crowd surrounding a parking yard with women wailing. "I moved closer after I heard some people saying one of them was still breathing. I saw my son bowing his head and kneeling inside the vehicle but was still breathing. Bruno had already died," she said.
Adhiambo said her son had a bright future. "I did not imagine they could play that far," she said.
Kisumu OCPD Christopher Mshimba said the police were trying to find out what could have happened. He said the children might not have tried to open the vehicle's door and were only helped by passers-by after they had already ran out of oxygen.
He, however, absolved the vehicle's owner of blame, saying he was not around and it is difficult at times to know what children are up to and where.
