This archive report was first published on 6 December 2019.
On December 6, 2019, a dramatic incident unfolded in Kibingoti village, Ndia Constituency, Kirinyaga county, Kenya.
Elizabeth Muthoni Gacheru, a primary school teacher, was washing clothes when she spotted a snake slithering into her house and hiding in her bedroom.
Desperate to flush out the unwanted guest, Muthoni lit a piece of cloth and threw it into the bedroom, but her plan backfired.
Instead of the snake, smoke billowed from the house, and the situation quickly spiralled out of control.
County government firefighters were called in to put out the inferno, but not before parts of the house, roof, clothes, and electronics were destroyed, leaving Muthoni with estimated losses of Sh1 million.
The fate of the targeted snake remains unclear.
