NAIROBI, Kenya Jan 5 – Two people died on Thursday following an explosion at a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) depot in Nyeri.
Police and the Kenya Red Cross said five other people had been hospitalised.
“The update as of now is that two people have succumbed to injuries while three have been transported to Nairobi for specialised treatment,” Kenya Red Cross Spokesman Fredrick Gori said.
“Two of them were airlifted while the third was taken by road,” he added.
He said two others who inhaled the gas were still admitted to the Nyeri Provincial General hospital.
Central Provincial Police chief John Mbijiwe told Capital News that the incident occurred at Giakanja trading centre shortly after 11am but the exact cause of the fire remains unclear.
Mbijiwe said some witnesses and workers in the plant had reported that the fire started when a lorry delivering gas cylinders hit an electricity pole.
“There was a truck that was delivering gas cylinders and we are receiving reports that it hit an electricity pole. An investigation has been launched,” he said.
The police chief said the fire had caused massive damage at the LPG depot.
It took fire fighters from the Nyeri Municipal Council more than four hours to put out the raging blaze that kept people more than a kilometre away.
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