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Molo fire: Policeman dies at Mater

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 3 – One of the police officers flown to Nairobi after the Molo oil tanker explosion succumbed to injuries on Tuesday morning, raising the death toll to 123.

Police Spokesman Erick Kiraithe said the officer died at the Mater Hospital at about 5am.

This brings to eight the number of police officers who have died after the oil tank explosion in Sachangwan, Molo.

Three other police officers are still admitted to the Mater Hospital and another to the Aga Khan Hospital with serious burns sustained as they tried to control a surging crowd from siphoning fuel from the tanker before the blast.

“Unfortunately, we have lost another police officer at the Mater Hospital. The others are in a stable condition,” he told Capital News on telephone.

Five of the officers were burnt to death when the explosion occurred while three others have since died while undergoing treatment in hospital.

In the meantime, foreign doctors were expected to jet into the country on Tuesday to help treat survivors of Saturday’s fuel tank tragedy in Molo.
 
Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the experts will assist in plastic surgery and other reconstructive operations on patients recovering in various hospitals in Nakuru, Molo and Nairobi.

“We have made arrangements to get some doctors from India and the United States and they will come here and team up with our doctors to save lives,” the premier stated.

“I am told that these patients after a period of time need reconstructive surgery and that a lot of operations are going to be required and therefore we need to get as many hands to be able to cope with this emergency,” Mr Odinga said when he visited survivors at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

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The PM further echoed an appeal by the KNH Chief Executive Officer Dr. Jotham Micheni for Kenyans to donate blood for those in hospital.

The Kenya Red Cross has said that at least 200 students of Thika High School have approached the society to donate blood for victims of the recent fire tragedies.

Kenya Red Cross has erected a blood donation tent outside the US Embassy bomb blast memorial site. People can also donate blood in various Kenya Red Cross Regions and Branches countrywide, as well as designated blood donor facilities.

In line with a directive by the President, celebrations in the country were cancelled as the week of mourning for those killed in the fires entered day two.

The World Wetlands Day commemoration activities that were to take place on Monday were cancelled.

The celebrations were expected at the Sabaki River estuary in Malindi District led by Environment Minister John Michuki.

However several government officials who were already in Malindi on Monday held consultations with technical officers on the conservation of the Sabaki estuary and other wetlands in Malindi.

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