KENYA: More than 100 people are dead after a petrol fire broke out in a densely populated slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi

Record ID: 361266

  • Title: KENYA: More than 100 people are dead after a petrol fire broke out in a densely populated slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi
  • Date: 13th September 2011
  • Summary: SINAI SLUM, NAIROBI, KENYA (SEPTEMBER 12, 20110 (REUTERS) PETROLEUM FIRE BURNING IN DITCH CROWDS GATHERED IN SINAI SLUM FIREFIGHTERS TRYING TO PUT OUT FIRE FOAM USED BY FIREFIGHTERS TO FIGHT FIRE WATER RUNNING THROUGH SLUM GRAPHIC IMAGES PEOPLE LOOKING AT DEAD BODIES VARIOUS OF DEAD BODIES PARTIALLY BURIED IN DIRT VARIOUS OF POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS AT SCENE, PEOPLE
  • Embargoed: 28th September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya, Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Disasters
  • Reuters ID: LVA2SW3KGBCI1HWM6DTVO094NMEI
  • Story Text: More than 100 people were burnt to death and a similar number were taken to hospital after a petrol fire ignited by a cigarette butt broke out in a densely populated slum in the Kenyan capital, local media said on Monday (September 12).
    Police said a large number of people had been burnt to death, but that no official count had been undertaken because authorities were battling the fire before doing so.
    Citizen television quoted an official at the scene who said he had counted more than 120 dead bodies. Capital FM radio said the dead numbered more than 150.
    Police said the fire started after a fuel tank at a depot belonging to the Kenya Pipeline Company spilled fuel into an open sewer flowing through the slum.
    Residents of the slum tried to scoop up the fuel from the burst pipe from the sewer, but were burnt when the petrol ignited after someone tossed a cigarette butt into the open ditch.
    Firefighters scrambled across the corrugated rooftops of burning shacks to pour foam on petrol that flowed down the slum's muddy alleyways. Ambulances ferried dozens of wounded to nearby hospitals.
    Large numbers of people congregated in the area, some shouting slogans as firefighters tried to contain the flames.
    A spokesman for the Kenya Red Cross said everyone inside an informal school inside the slum had been burnt.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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