Two people have been seriously injured in a gas plant explosion at Gitaru, Kiambu County.
The explosion was reported around 6am Thursday morning. Locals say that a driver of a water bowser and the owner of the gas refilling plant were injured in the morning incident.
Police said the owner of the plant is among those who were injured and will be questioned after receiving treatment.
The area police commander, Joseph Muriuki, said the cause of the fire and legality of the plant are subject to investigations.
“We are still trying to establish the cause of the fire. The owner has been taken to hospital but we will definitely need him to provide documentation as we investigate the legality of this plant,” the police boss said.
It is not clear what caused the leakage but reports suggest the leak started soon after delivery of a consignment of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at the plant.
As soon as the leakage started, workers at the plant are said to have raised alarm, going door to door in neighbouring homesteads in an apparent attempt to evacuate the area.
“We were being woken up and told to move away from the area. The was a dense smell of gas all over,” Mr Phillip Kuria, a local said,
Locals joined the evacuation exercise, barricading the Gitaru- Ndumbu-ini Road to keep vehicles off the area as police and firefighters were called in to secure the area.
The plant owner also arrived at the scene and called in a water bowser, allegedly to be on standby in the event of a fire.
Workers and locals, however, tried to stop the bowser from accessing the scene, warning the driver of the danger but he defied the warnings.
“We are not sure what sparked the fire but as soon as he got to the gate of the plant we heard a huge blast,” a local said.
The driver of the bowser and the owner of the plant suffered serious burns in the explosion but were rescued by locals and rushed to hospital.
Fire fighters spent the better part of the morning trying to contain the fire as they warned locals to keep off the area.
