He left home this morning expecting to earn a day’s wage. Instead, his family will receive his body.
A man in his early 40s died in a split second in Naivasha after a tree he was trimming fell onto a live electricity line, sending a fatal current through the trunk and snuffing out his life instantly, witnesses said.
Neighbours say the deceased was a casual worker, hired to trim trees inside a residential compound—work he had done many times before to put food on the table. There was no warning, no second chance. Just a loud crack, a flash, and silence.
“He didn’t scream. He just fell,” said a neighbour who watched in horror. “We realized immediately he was gone.”
Within minutes, word spread through the estate. People gathered in shock as his tools lay scattered on the ground—mute evidence of a job that turned deadly. Some residents broke down in tears. Others stood frozen, struggling to process how a normal morning had ended in death.
By the time emergency responders arrived, nothing could be done. Kenya Power technicians later disconnected the line as police covered the body, waiting for the hearse. A crowd watched quietly, many asking the same painful question: why was such dangerous work allowed without professional help?
Back home, the news landed like a bombshell. Family members who had expected him back by evening were instead plunged into grief. He is survived by relatives who depended on his daily labour—now left to confront a future without him.
Authorities confirmed that Kenya Power had not been notified before the trimming. Yet the utility’s rules are clear: no tree cutting near power lines should be done without their involvement—a safety step that costs nothing but ignorance continues to claim lives.
“This is how poor Kenyans die—doing honest work,” lamented a local elder. “One mistake, and a family is destroyed forever.”
Police have opened investigations as the body was taken to a Naivasha mortuary. No arrests had been made by press time.
As Naivasha mourns, the tragedy stands as a brutal reminder that behind every headline is a family shattered, children left asking questions, and a life lost not to crime or disease—but to a preventable danger that continues to stalk the working poor.
Today, a man went out to earn bread. He never made it home.
