Long wait at the mortuary

• Relatives of Nakumatt Downtown fire victims tell of the agony of having to wait for hours at city morgue

She said she and the others waiting had received no official communication from either the Red Cross or the government.

“We are just here expecting anything,” she said “I have to go and check what the Red Cross has found so far.”

Back in town, Kennedy Maiva, 45, said he had gone to the supermarket to check on the price of a gas cooker on Wednesday afternoon.

The freelance graphic designer from Kariako could not have known he was walking into a death trap.

“I had gone to check the price of a gas cooker. My wife wanted one, and I had decided to start at Nakumatt before going to other shops and compare prices,” he told Sunday Nation.

He said just as he reached the part of the supermarket where the gas cookers were kept, he heard an explosion; then thick smoke engulfed the whole building.

“I had been at the second floor when the explosion occurred,” he said. “A lot of people from first floor were running upwards, saying there was fire downstairs.”

He said he ran to a supermarket attendant and asked him if there was an emergency exit.

“He took us to a place were around 15 people, who were mostly women, were crowding in a corner,” he said. “This was only where there was some ventilation as I learnt when I reached there. People had gone there for fresh air. If there had been escape routes, many people would have survived.”

In the same place there were several drums and other items he could not see because of the heavy smoke.

With the help of the attendant Mr Maiva said he managed to pull off the grill covering the window and jump out.

“I don’t know how I managed, but if there could have been emergency exits upstairs, many lives would have been saved,” he said. “I only remember a woman telling me to help her evacuate a baby she was holding...I believe they perished.”

He was taken to Nairobi West hospital where wounds on his fingers were stitched up.

Fred Ouma was in the supermarket when the lights went out and were then restored by a generator.

“I was doing shopping for my daughter who is joining Form One next week,” he said. “When the lights went off, I didn’t suspect anything was wrong”.