A cholera outbreak has killed at least five people in northern Kenya, mainly because of water shortage that has forced people to drink unclean water, health officials say.

The deaths were reported in Msambweni, a township thirty kilometers north of the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa.

"We have had a serious cholera outbreak in the area and five deaths have been confirmed," Dr. Maureen Mboya, a senior health official in the area, told Press TV correspondent.

The Kenyan town has been plagued with acute water shortage in the recent past, leaving its residents with no option but to drink unclean water.

"People are just dying at their homes and this is sad. Many people cannot even get to the hospitals because they are far away," said Ramadhan Kongo, a villager who said he has witnessed dome of the deaths.

Government officials say they have begun distributing drinking water door to door in the affected areas to avoid further outbreak of the disease.