Three killed in gas explosion

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By AGGREY MUTAMBO amutambo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, August 1  2012 at  22:08

Three people died on Wednesday evening and two others seriously injured in Eastleigh area of Nairobi following a gas explosion.

Police said two people died instantly while another died on the way to hospital.

“The information we have is they died from a gas explosion. We believe that is just an accident and this is what may have caused their injuries and deaths but we are still investigating the matter,” Nairobi Criminal Investigation boss Kamwende Ireri told journalists at the scene.

Eyewitnesses told reporters that the three middle-aged men met their death at around 6.30pm along Juja road near St Teresa High School when a vehicle rammed into a cart puller who was carrying luggage that included a cooking gas cylinder.

The gas is said to have exploded on impact suffocating and burning faces of those near the cart.

When the Nation team arrived at the scene, the wreck of the cart was in the ditch but the cylinder and the luggage were missing.

The five victims were the cart puller, a passerby and three men who work at a garage in Ngara.

A witness, Mr Wilfred Ouma who claimed he worked with the three said they were trekking home because the fare to Huruma had been hiked.

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Mr Ouma further said the victims had called him earlier to inform him of the accident.

“But when I called back, one of them could not answer my calls. The other told me he had been taken to hospital already only to reach here and find Ooko dead,” he said.

Mr Ooko’s sister, Hellen Juma said he had left his 25-year-old brother at home when she left for work in the morning.

“I often leave earlier than him because he was still training to be a mechanic," she said.