Daniel Nyassy
21 June 2009
Nairobi — More than 250 private villas and cottages in the tourist haven of Malindi were gutted by fire on Sunday.
The fire, the biggest in the history of fires in the town, started at 1 pm and by 4 pm. Over 60 vehicles were also burnt in the incident.
The Italian owners of the villas, who had arrived a few days ago to prepare for the opening of the tourist high season next week, desperately tried to have the fire extinguished.
Palm Tree Club hotel and the prestigious Kibokoni Riding Centre, a popular horse riding place for foreigners, were among the property razed by the fire.
Four foreigners who had locked themselves in their villa with their workers and refused pleas by police to move out.
Area police Chief Peter Kattam said police had to break into the villa to save the Italian owners and their employees.
"We have also arrested four people who were looting property in one of the villas and locked them in the police cells," said Mr Kattam.
Fighting back tears, the general manager of Palm Tree Club, Ms Lidia Filini said: "I just came from Italy two days ago to prepare for the opening of the high season next week. This is now all shattered. We are back to square one." She said the hotel had been fully booked from July and the season looked "wonderful".
"I was having lunch in one villa with my friends when I saw smoke coming from this direction. When I drove here, I only saw smoke, smoke, smoke and fire, fire, fire. Everything was down already," said Ms Filini.
According to a guard at the Palm Tree Club, Mr Francis Makazi, the fire was started by an electric fault at Rajo Villas, near where he works.
"We just saw blue tongues of fire along the electricity cables and in a flash of a second, everything was engulfed in a ball of fire," said Mr Makazi.
The fire was fanned by strong ocean winds and took only minutes to jump from villa to villa.
From Rajo Villas, the fire quickly spread to Temple House, Palm Tree Club, Red Lion Hotel, Ngorongoro House, Bahati House, Tembo House and Kibokoni Riding Centre.
From there, it was difficult to count the number of cottages burnt down because the whole place was engulfed in smoke, making visibility impossible.
Burning debris
Within no time, the entire area between Tamani Jua Villas and Rainbow Care Centre, a distance of about 25 minutes on foot, was a mass of burning debris with gas cylinder explosions renting the air. The fire then spread to local villages sending a wave of panic among residents.
Hundreds of people frantically removed their household goods from their houses and heaped them on roads. The municipal council's two fire engines -- a truck and a Land Rover -- were overwhelmed by the intensity of the fire.
They quickly ran out of water and retreated to re-fill, but the firemen's efforts were in vain.
Recent fires have burnt tourist hotels in Malindi and Watamu, leading to losses worth millions of shillings.
In January, Kivulini Beach Hotel and Flamingo Villas, were burnt down. In April, La Papaya Villas and two main bars at Kivulini Beach Hotel, which had been rebuilt, were burnt down. on April 6, several villas at Karibuni in Mambrui went up in smoke.
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