2 dead, hundreds injured in Nairobi gas explosion

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Two people were killed and hundreds were injured Thursday night in a massive gas explosion at an industrial site in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, officials said.

A truck loaded with gas cylinders exploded at about 11:30 p.m. in the Mradi area of Nairobi County's Embakasi neighborhood, which is southeast of the city's central business district, and ignited a massive fireball, Kenyan government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said in a Friday morning statement.

The flames from the fireball damaged vehicles, businesses and spread to residential houses where many people were home at the time of the blast, he said.

"As a result, two fellow Kenyans have regrettably lost their lives while being attended to at the Nairobi West Hospital," he said. "In addition, 222 other Kenyans were injured by the fire and have been rushed to various hospitals."

Videos of the explosion shared online show a massive fireball hundreds of feet in size bloom above the industrial site that Mwaura had earlier identified as the Kentainers Company.

He said the company was refilling gas cylinders when the fire erupted. The nearby garment and textile Oriental Godown was burned to the ground after it caught fire due to being hit by a gas cylinder that was sent flying by the explosion.

The scene has since been secured, Mwaura said, and residents are being advised to avoid the area due to the ongoing rescue mission.

Kenya Red Cross said on X that 271 people had been evacuated to various health facilities in Nairobi.

Emergency Plus Ambulances Kenya added that it attended to more than 50 people at the scene on top of those who were sent to hospitals.

Nairobi County assembly woman Esther Muthoni Passaris, who was in Mombasa for meetings, said in a video message shot from within a passenger plane that she was taking the first flight back to the city following explosion.

In the message, she appealed to residents to donate blood.

"Please, if you are near any hospital facility, please go and donate blood, because burn survivors need a lot of blood," she said.