"Huge fireball"

Kenya: 2 dead and 222 injured after gas explosion

According to government figures, two people have died and 222 people have been injured in a major overnight fire following a gas explosion in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Kenyan government spokesman Isaac Maigua Mwaura wrote on Friday in the short message service X, formerly Twitter, that a truck loaded with gas exploded late Thursday evening in the Embakasi district. This led to a "huge fireball" that spread.

Numerous stores and residential buildings caught fire, the government spokesman added. Two Kenyans were killed. 222 people were injured and taken to hospital. The Kenyan Red Cross had previously spoken of almost 300 injured.

Emergency services were still battling the flames in the morning
On Friday morning, numerous firefighters were still working to extinguish the flames, as a journalist from the AFP news agency reported from the scene. Thick black smoke was rising. Embakasi is located in the south-east of Nairobi.