Medeshi Feb 1 ,2009
Kenya oil blaze 'leaves 100 dead'
More than 100 people have been killed in central Kenya after an oil spill from a crashed lorry caught fire as locals rushed to scoop it up, police have said.
The lorry crashed near the town of Molo, spilling oil that later burst into flames as hundreds of locals were crowded around trying to help themselves to the fuel.
"We counted 91 bodies at the site and there were 20 others that had been taken to the local mortuary," police provincial spokesman Hassan Noor Hassan told the Reuters news agency.
Another 82 people were critically injured, a local Red Cross official said.
"The people went to scoop up the oil, then something lit the fire, maybe someone dropped a cigarette," Titus Mung'ou, a Kenya Red Cross spokesman, said on Saturday.
Local residents said there was also a suspicion someone angered at being blocked from the spill by police may have started the fire on purpose.
Children missing
Hundreds of people were still milling around the site after the blaze.
A woman said she was searching for her two missing children.
She said: "My two sons ran home, picked some jerry cans and ran to get some petrol.
"I tried to stop them but they did not listen, they told me everyone is going there for the free fuel."
The disaster follows the deaths of at least 25 people in Nairobi when a supermarket caught fire earlier this week.
Local newspapers have criticised the government for poor safety regulation.After the supermarket blaze, the Daily Nation said Nairobi's three million inhabitants are served by just one fire station situated close to a traffic-choked business district.
More than 100 people have been killed in central Kenya after an oil spill from a crashed lorry caught fire as locals rushed to scoop it up, police have said.
The lorry crashed near the town of Molo, spilling oil that later burst into flames as hundreds of locals were crowded around trying to help themselves to the fuel.
"We counted 91 bodies at the site and there were 20 others that had been taken to the local mortuary," police provincial spokesman Hassan Noor Hassan told the Reuters news agency.
Another 82 people were critically injured, a local Red Cross official said.
"The people went to scoop up the oil, then something lit the fire, maybe someone dropped a cigarette," Titus Mung'ou, a Kenya Red Cross spokesman, said on Saturday.
Local residents said there was also a suspicion someone angered at being blocked from the spill by police may have started the fire on purpose.
Children missing
Hundreds of people were still milling around the site after the blaze.
A woman said she was searching for her two missing children.
She said: "My two sons ran home, picked some jerry cans and ran to get some petrol.
"I tried to stop them but they did not listen, they told me everyone is going there for the free fuel."
The disaster follows the deaths of at least 25 people in Nairobi when a supermarket caught fire earlier this week.
Local newspapers have criticised the government for poor safety regulation.After the supermarket blaze, the Daily Nation said Nairobi's three million inhabitants are served by just one fire station situated close to a traffic-choked business district.
Al Jazeera
