Thread: Kenya pipeline explodes, flattening homes, killing scores

Kenya pipeline explodes, flattening homes, killing scores

By the CNN Wire Staff
UPDATED: 11:55 AM EDT 09.12.11

A fuel pipeline exploded in a densely populated Nairobi slum Monday morning, flattening homes, reducing some bodies to dust and forcing a massive evacuation of the area amid fears that big pools of leaked fuel could ignite, police and Kenya Red Cross officials said.

At least 68 people died in the explosion and fire that erupted around 10 a.m. (3 a.m. ET), possibly as a group of people were siphoning fuel from the pipeline in the Sinai slum, the officials said. But the death toll is likely to reach at least 100, Nairobi police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said.

Charred bodies were strewn throughout the wreckage. Some bodies were still bobbing in a stream that passes through the settlement Monday afternoon.

Many of the bodies were too hot too move, and it was hard to tell exactly how many people had died because so many of the victims were found huddled together and severely burned, said Carol Nduta, a Kenya Red Cross emergency medical instructor and dispatcher who traveled to the scene. Some of the bodies were burned to dust, she said.

"Almost the whole place blew up," she said.

Although some structures were still smoking and burning Monday afternoon, the fire seemed to be mostly under control, Nduta said.

Images from CNN affiliate Kenya Television Network showed flames shooting from metal-roofed buildings as firefighters and people in civilian clothing rushed to the scene and picked through the flattened remains of structures.

Authorities set up counseling centers at a stadium in the city as hospital officials made an urgent appeal for blood, saying that many of the 112 people admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital suffered extensive burns and would require blood transfusions to survive, state broadcaster Kenya Broadcasting Co. reported.

The precise cause of the accident remained unclear.

Police suspect the pipeline was punctured, possibly in an effort to steal fuel, Kiraithe said.

KBC quoted Prime Minister Raila Odinga as saying the incident occurred after a mechanism on the pipeline failed, allowing fuel to spill into a drainage ditch, where it then ignited.

He said the explosion was the worst energy-related disaster in the country's history.

Fatalities from fuel leak accidents are common in Kenya.

Scores of residents scramble to scoop up fuel whenever there is a leak or a tanker is involved in an accident. In 2009, more than 100 people died in a fire after an oil tanker overturned in Molo, in western Kenya. In that incident, someone trying to take some of the fuel lit a cigarette, starting the fire.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta pledged the government will do its best to aid victims and investigate the cause of the incident, according to KBC.

"As Kenyans we feel a collective sense of loss and grief," KBC quoted him as saying. "As leaders we ought to feel a collective sense of responsibility."

From CNN.com

Originally Posted by Curt James

(snip) Police suspect the pipeline was punctured, possibly in an effort to steal fuel(snip)

In 2009, more than 100 people died in a fire after an oil tanker overturned in Molo, in western Kenya. In that incident, someone trying to take some of the fuel lit a cigarette, starting the fire. (snip)

"I will steal this fuel, but, first, I will take out my Zippo lighter and -- in celebration of my illgotten gains -- enjoy this Marlboro cigaretBOOM!"