MOLO, Kenya – There were not nearly enough hospital beds — or body bags — after one of Kenya's deadliest accidents in recent memory.
Burn victims lined the floors of overwhelmed hospitals Sunday, hooked up to drips and moaning in pain after an overturned gasoline tanker exploded as hundreds of people tried to scoop up free fuel. More than 100 people were killed and 200 injured in the inferno, which was likely sparked by a cigarette.
"Everybody was screaming and most of them were running with fire on their bodies, they were just running into the bush," said Charles Kamau, 22, who was driving through Molo on Saturday night when he saw the road blocked by hundreds of people with gerry cans, plastic bottles and buckets — anything to siphon some free fuel.
As he waited for the crowd to disperse, the gasoline ignited with a blast that was felt miles away. Prime Minister Raila Odinga said someone's cigarette might have caused the explosion, but police said the cause remained under investigation.
Similar blasts are common in Nigeria, where people tap gas pipelines to pilfer fuel for cooking or resale on the black market. In 2006, a gasoline blast killed 200 people in Nigeria. The accidents highlight the desperation of people living in the poorest continent in the world.
"Poverty is pushing our people into doing desperate things just to get through one more day," Odinga said at a hospital in Nakuru, near Molo.
Kamau, who works at an orphanage near Molo, was unhurt but a 10-year-old child who was in the car with him suffered burns on his back.
"I just grabbed the boy and ran," said Kamau, who also was in the car with his colleague, Paul, when the tanker exploded.
"I am here to report him missing," Kamau said at a Red Cross tent in Molo, about 105 miles (170 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Nairobi, where hundreds were gathering for any news of missing loved ones.
Burnt-out cars and charred clothing littered the road where the shell of the tanker stood, smoldering.
Authorities were combing through the scorched forest by the road for any corpses.
The government sent extra body bags and medical supplies to the area by helicopter, along with more doctors to reinforce the overwhelmed hospitals, where some victims were lying on floors. One child, who appeared to be around 10, was sitting dazed in a wheelchair with burns covering his face and body.
The Kenya Red Cross said the death toll was 113 but was expected to rise.
"Most of the families will have a hard time because these bodies are charred beyond recognition," said Patrick Nyongesa, the regional manager for the Kenya Red Cross.
The scene was so gruesome, he said, that Red Cross workers were being offered counseling.
Joseph Rotich, 35, who lives in Molo and ran to the scene when he heard that a tanker was spilling fuel, said he is haunted by the image of badly wounded people, their clothes burned off, begging for help in the forest.
"They were lying there, saying, 'Give me aid, please call someone,'" he said. "I am so sad, so sad. When they heard this lorry had fuel, they came to get the fuel because it was free."
The government has been criticized for poor safety regulations recently. Nearly 30 people died Wednesday when a massive fire swept through a supermarket in downtown Nairobi.
Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said the country was enduring a time of tragedy.
"Everybody is in shock, with the fire coming as it does just days after the other blast," he said as he toured the scene in Molo.
From: Yahoo News
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