By IANS,
Nairobi : Over 100 people were burnt to death Monday in a fire in a fuel pipeline passing through a slum area in Kenyan capital Nairobi, officials said.
The explosion took place in Nairobi’s Lunga Lunga industrial area, which is surrounded by densely packed tin-shack houses of the Sinai slum, The Telegraph reported.
The number of dead was yet to be confirmed.
Local media reports said many people were injured after the underground oil pipeline burst and spilled oil into a slum near a fuel depot in Nairobi’s industrial area, according to Xinhua.
A Kenya Pipeline Company official said the explosion occurred when some of the slum residents rushed to scoop the spilled oil while smoking.
“One of our pipelines burst near the fuel depot off Lunga Lunga Road in the Industrial Area, causing an oil spill which went undetected for hours. It exploded when residents who were smoking rushed to collect the oil, causing injuries,” the official told Xinhua.
Joseph Mwego, a resident, told The Telegraph: “There had been a leak in the fuel pipeline earlier, and people were going to collect the fuel that was coming out. Then there was a loud bang, a big explosion, and smoke and fire burst up high.”
Firefighters sprayed chemical foam to try to contain the fire, while both police and military personnel cordoned off the area and pushed people back.
Fuel leaks and oil tanker accidents that occurred in the past in Africa have drawn huge crowds scrambling to scoop fuel, resulting in many deaths due to accidental fires.
In 2009, at least 122 people were killed after a fire erupted while the people were drawing fuel from an overturned tanker in Kenya.