Authorities in Kenya’s capital said that a gas explosion late on Thursday night, while people were sleeping, resulted in at least three fatalities and 298 injuries.
At 11:30 p.m. local time, there was a report of a gas explosion-related fire in the Mradi district in Nairobi’s Embakasi region. The Kenya Police Service released a statement stating that the injured were evacuated and taken to several hospitals located throughout the city.
According to Emergency Plus Medical Services, a private ambulance service owned by the Kenya Red Cross Society, dozens more people received medical attention there.
After burning residences and warehouses, the fire was put out and the area was guarded, according to the police.
Deputy Inspector General Douglas Kanja of the Kenya officials Service visited the location on Friday morning, and officials say a multi-agency team is still there.
In a statement released on Friday, the Kenya Red Cross stated that workers were presently “providing first aid and psychosocial support services to those affected” at the location.
Additionally, the group announced that it was supporting search and rescue operations by setting up a “tracing desk”. The Kenya Red Cross reports that 21 children who were taken from their families following the explosion have now been reunited with them.
According to a statement from Kenyan government spokesman Isaac Mwaura, Nairobi City County has waived the hospital fees for all victims and started providing non-food and necessary food items to the affected families.
According to Mwaura, the government is urging people to contribute blood and supplies to help the victims, and the situation is still being looked into.
It appears that an illegal liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) factory is where the explosion happened.
Applications for building permissions for an LPG storage and filling plant at the location in 2023 were denied, according to confirmation from Kenya’s Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA).
The agency stated in a statement on Friday that the primary cause of the rejection was the designs’ inability to adhere to the safety distances required by the Kenya Standard.
“EPRA noted the high population density around the proposed site and the applicant was requested to submit a Qualitative Risk Assessment clearly indicating the radiation blast profiles in the unfortunate case of an explosion like the one that happened yesterday.”
“The applicant never provided the requested QRA resulting in the rejection of the applications,” stated EPRA. “Email correspondences providing reasons for the rejection were sent to the applicant.”
In order to “ensure that operating licenses for all plants rated below the high safety integrity status are revoked” and that “illegal plants operating across the country” are dismantled, EPRA indicated that it takes appropriate measures.
