A fire set off by a gas explosion in Kenya kills at least 3, injures more than 270
Three people have died and 270 more injured after a vehicle loaded with gas exploded and set off an inferno that burned homes and warehouses in Kenya’s capital, officials said Friday.
It is reported that the death toll is expected to rise.
According to the Associated Press (AP), many residents were likely inside their homes when the fire reached their houses in the Mradi area of the Nairobi neighbourhood of Embakasi, government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said.
The truck explosion ignited a huge fireball, and a flying gas cylinder set off a fire that burned down a garment and textile warehouse called Oriental Godown, Mwaura said. Several other vehicles and businesses were damaged by the inferno that started around 11:30 pm, Thursday.
“At the scene after daybreak, several houses and shops were burned out. The shell of the vehicle believed to have started the explosion was lying on its side. The roof of a four-story residential building about 200 metres (yards) from the scene of the explosion was broken by a flying gas cylinder. Electric wires lay on the ground. Nothing remained in the burned-out warehouse except the shells of several trucks,” the AP report said.
Alfred Juma, an aspiring politician, said he heard loud noises from a gas cylinder in a warehouse next to his house.
“I started waking up neighbours asking them to leave,” Juma was quoted as saying.
He said he warned a black car not to drive through the area, but the driver insisted and his vehicle stalled because of the fumes.
“He attempted to start the car three times and that’s when there was an explosion and the fire spread into the (warehouse) setting off other explosions,” Juma said.
He said he grabbed two children and they hid in a sewage ditch until the explosions ended. His family hadn’t been present, but Juma lost everything he owned in the fire.
The government and Red Cross said 271 people were taken to several hospitals with injuries, the AP said.
It added that the proximity of the industrial company to residences raised questions about enforcement of city plans. Officials at the county government have been accused of taking bribes to overlook building codes and regulations.
