A postmortem has revealed Terance Korir, who died in a car fire incident at Buruburu estate in Nairobi on April 29, was killed by smoke inhalation.
This rules out claims the 36-year-old succumbed to injuries after he was doused in a highly flammable substance and set alight.
According to Chief Government Pathologist, Dr Johansen Oduor, who conducted the autopsy at the Chiromo Funeral Parlour in Nairobi on Tuesday, May 5, the poisonous chemicals in the smoke reduced the amount of oxygen available to Korir’s body, leading to his death.
Smoke particles were found in Korir’s lungs, indicating he remained alive minutes after the fire broke out, but eventually succumbed to the poisonous smoke chemicals.
Buruburu OCPD, Adamson Bungei, has earlier told K24 Digital that the deceased’s widow Ruth Wanjiru, 29, said in a statement filed at the area police station — that shortly after her partner left their house on Mai Mahiu Court, Buruburu Phase 5, she heard a loud explosion, and when she rushed out, she was shocked to see her husband seated motionless on the driver’s seat of his Subaru Impreza, with smoke billowing from the vehicle’s interior.
“She (Wanjiru) said that she tried opening the driver’s door from the outside so that she could rescue her husband, but her spouse had locked the door,” said Bungei.
State’s chief pathologist, Dr. Oduor, has now ruled out allegations that Korir died of burn injuries as was alleged in sections of social media.