NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Crews searched Tuesday for victims of a pipeline fire in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed at least 120 people and injured scores more, officials said.
A pipeline near a Kenya Pipeline Co. depot in the capital's industrial area caught fire Monday. Witnesses said a pipeline had burst earlier and some of the victims may have been trying to siphon fuel when the fire started.
"We collected a total of 76 bodies last evening [Monday] but we believe there are many more still lying around mostly in the river that passes in the slum and those are the ones we want to continue retrieving this morning [Tuesday]," Thomas Atuti, a divisional police chief, told Capital FM Kenya.
Officials said a humanitarian crisis was in the making because people were forced to spend the night in the cold after fire destroyed their houses.
"It is a terrible, terrible situation. It is a sad scene and indeed very sad to lose our people in a disaster such as this," said Prime Minister Raila Odinga as he toured the area with Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi.
Nairobi Town Clerk Philip Kisia said crews Monday counted as many as 120 bodies, but feared more bodies would be found.
"We have lost 120 people in this tragedy but from the look of things, the number could rise further because as you can see there are even bodies in the river of the people who were possibly trying to escape the fire," Kisia said.
Murungi said residents squatting near the pipeline shared the blame, Capital FM Kenya reported.
"It is quite unfortunate that some people have been squatting in an area reserved for the pipeline. We have been trying to remove them but unfortunately we have never succeeded," Murungi said.
