HEART OF HORROR

Doctors at the Rift Valley Provincial General hospital in Nakuru attend to Sachangwan accident victims PHOTO/JOSEPH KIHERI

What you need to know:

  • Victims were knee-deep in fuel when the tanker exploded. With their bodies aflame, some made a desperate dash for a nearby river. Some 176 survived to tell their story of horror, 111 died.

The villagers were drawn to their doom, as if by a magnet.

The drivers of motorcycle taxis called one another. The women of a nearby camp for the displaced gathered their skirts, snatched up jerry cans and headed for their rendezvous with fate.

It was a Saturday, children were out of school and many joined the dash for free riches.

After the fires were doused on Sunday, the village of Sachang’wan and its environs was mourning the loss of 110 people while another 178 suffered serious burns.

Forty six were airlifted by the Kenya Air Force to Nairobi where their condition was described as critical.

By time of going to press on Sunday, the circumstances of the 3.30 p.m. accident were still unclear.

Police said the tanker was transporting fuel from Mombasa to Eldoret. The driver is said to have run away from the crowd of looters after the accident, the fate of his turn boy is unknown.

Hospitals are overwhelmed with patients. The Nakuru Provincial General Hospital is treating 66 and Molo District Hospital 112 where many received treatment from the floor.

According to police, two officers died and 10 are in hospital, some under intensive care.

According to the official version of events, the officers tried to keep the crowd away from the dangerous cargo. Some survivors, however, claimed the officers were charging villagers a fee of between Sh50 and Sh100 to be allowed to fill their containers from the tanker.

Those who did not have it scooped the fuel from a nearby trench. When the tanker exploded, they were knee-deep in the highly flammable river.

Human torches

Many, burning human torches, died in a nearby thicket of blue gum, as they attempted to make their way to Molo River which is close to the road.

The forest also caught fire and some of it was consumed in the flames which burned for nearly three hours.

Apart from the tanker, two other vehicles, a saloon and a sport utility vehicle, were burnt.

Their curious drivers are said to have stopped to find out what was happening when the tanker exploded.

Most of the victims were from Borop farm, Jolly farm, Kwa Mzungu village, Salgaa shopping centre, Sachang’wan centre and even as far as Total, 20 kilometres from the scene.

How the truck ended up in a ditch on that particular stretch of road is also eliciting curiosity because the road is flat and in relatively good condition.

A police officer who talked to the Nation on condition he is not named because he was not authorised to comment on the investigation said he saw the tanker parked on the roadside and the driver and turn boy get off a few kilometres from Salgaa trading centre and before the Mau Summit Junction.

According to him, it was perfectly normal for truck drivers to park their vehicles in that area for a rest or to carry out a mechanical check and he didn’t pay much attention to it. Drivers also park on the roadside to siphon fuel off their tanks which they then sell to roadside brokers.

As soon as the crew got off, he said, he heard a loud noise and the tanker tumbled into a ditch.

Word quickly spread and soon the area was teeming with men, women and children, many with jerry cans. They headed for the tanker, which is suspected to have been loaded with 42,000 litres of petrol.

A motorcyclist in Molo town who only gave his name as Kinyanjui, told the Nation that he was at the scene when the explosion occurred.

Loading it

He had already got 20 litres of petrol from the tanker and was loading it onto his motorcycle when the tanker exploded.

He recalled how the crowd comprising men, women and children pushed and shoved to get at the fuel.

An eye-witness, Mr Joseph Kipchumba, said General Service Unit officers were the first to arrive at the scene but did not seal it off. Instead, they started charging those who had gathered to loot the fuel.

“Some people were angry because they could not afford the fee being demanded by the officers and threatened to set the truck on fire and spoil the party if they were not allowed to scoop the flowing petrol,” he said.

It is at this point that one irate person, Mr Kipchumba claimed, lit a match. The ensuing explosion was immediate and violent and was heard several kilometres away.

However, Rift Valley Provincial police boss Joseph Ashimalla said they could not pinpoint the exact cause of the explosion until the investigations into the incident are completed.

Another witness, Ms Esther Mukuhi, also blamed the police.

“I was scrambling to get to a position where I could scoop petrol when the GSU officers stopped me and demanded Sh50 which I did not have,” she said at the Molo District, where she was helping to rescue victims.

Ran to her house

Ms Mukuhi said she ran to her house to collect the money. Then she heard the explosion.

“I looked back and saw large flames jumping up to the clouds, I rushed back to see what was happening and learned that some people had been trapped in the inferno,” she said.

The middle aged woman is now thanking God that she did not have the cash.

“This was a blessing in disguise, if I had the money, I would have paid with my life, I would be among the dead,” she said.

The government responded to the tragedy by declaring five days of mourning, flying the victims to Nairobi for treatment and promised to foot the bill

Among those who visited the scene were Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Security minister George Saitoti, among others.

Prof Saitoti brought a condolence message from President Kibaki who is attending an African Union heads of state summit in Ethiopia.

And later while briefing the press, Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner Hassan Noor Hassan said the government was planning to hold a national harambee for the families of the victims.

He said the Red Cross would have final list of victims by today evening and urged locals to check with the society on the fate of their kin. He appealed to all those injured not to hide for fear of arrest but come out and get treatment.

He said out of the number reported dead, only three could be positively identified as the rest were badly burnt.

The PC was speaking after accompanying former president Moi on a tour of the hospital to console the injured.

The scene of the explosion was littered with jerry cans of all sizes, ranging from one litre to 30 litres, some of them partly burnt.

For some strange reason, several 20 and 30 litre jerry cans full of petrol stood un-touched, a few metres from the tanker.
Beside them were several motor bikes whose owners’ fate is not known.

Mr Kipchumba said some people sustained burns on the hands and legs as they tried to rescue their burning colleagues.

The military—Kenya Army and the Kenya Air Force— teamed up with the Kenya Red Cross and the ministries of Public Health and Medical Services to provide helicopters to fly victims to Nairobi.

Most of the survivors were carried out of planes on stretchers, their bodies badly disfigured by the fire. They were in great pain and many groaned as they were wheeled into waiting ambulances.

Disfigured

Public Health Minister Beth Mugo said the injured people required more than 1,000 units of blood and appealed to Kenyans to donate.

Prof Saitoti said GSU officers did their best to keep the crowd away from danger but were overwhelmed.

Twelve ambulances from the Ministry of Health, the Military, Jomo Kenyatta International and Wilson Airport, St John Ambulance service, ERS and G4S Fire Services were on standby to receive the patients who were admitted to Kenyatta, Nairobi and Aga Hhan hospitals.

The Government had also put Mater and MP Shah Hospitals on alert, asking them to prepare room for more victims who may be airlifted from Nakuru.

KNH Chief Executive Officer Dr Jotham Micheni was at Wilson Airport coordinating transfer of the victims to the referral institution.

Dr Christopher Arum (Brigadier) was also at the airport coordinating a team of military doctors who were part of the rescue operation.

He told Daily Nation that the military had sent a team of doctors to the ground to assist in attending to those admitted at the local hospital.

The Ministry of Public Health has also dispatched a team of more health experts among them doctors, nurses, counsellors, DNA testing officers and pathologists to reinforce the medical response on the ground.

Premier Odinga regretted the incident saying Kenyans must be sensitised on the dangers of rushing to scenes of accidents involving tankers.

Additional reporting by Carol Wafula, Oliver Mathenge and Noah Cheploen.