Three people killed, over 270 injured after gas explosion in Kenya

Nairobi: A truck loaded with liquid petroleum gas cylinders exploded and set off a late-night inferno that burned homes and warehouses in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, killing at least three people and injuring more than 270, officials said on Friday, with the death toll expected to rise.

At least 24 people were critically injured, the Kenya Red Cross said.

The truck was parked inside a gas cylinder storage and filling site that had multiple applications to operate there rejected last year because it was too close to residential areas, Kenya’s Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority said, raising questions over whether the site was operating illegally.

Witnesses said they heard a sound they suspected to be gas leaking from inside the storage site before at least two explosions and the massive fire, which broke out at around 11.30 p.m. on Thursday. A huge fireball lit up the night sky.

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.