"Nairobi gas explosion: At least 3 dead, hundreds injured in Kenya’s capital" 2 February 2024

A truck loaded with gas exploded and set off a massive fireball that burned homes and warehouses in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, killing at least three people and injuring 280 people.

Kenya’s government vowed that those responsible would be held accountable for the explosion that took place just before midnight on Thursday in the Embakasi neighbourhood, unleashing a trail of destruction and sending people running for their lives. [...] The fire was eventually contained by Friday morning, but firefighters, rescue teams, and police were looking for people trapped in the area.

“As we call for caution and adherence to the rule of law, those culpable in this unacceptable occurrence will be held accountable,” Kenya’s Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua posted on X. [...] At the scene after daybreak on Friday, 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-storey residential building about 200 meters from the scene of the explosion was broken by a flying gas cylinder. Electric wires lay on the ground. Nothing except the shells of several trucks remained in a burned-out warehouse called Oriental Godown that deals with garments and textiles. [...]

Kenya’s Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) said it had denied permission three times last year for the construction of a liquefied petroleum gas storage and filling plant at the site of the explosion. “The main reason for the rejection was failure of the designs to meet the safety distances stipulated,” it said in a statement on Friday, noting “the high population density around the proposed site”. But residents alleged that the gas businesses in the neighbourhood had operated with impunity and little regard for citizens’ safety.