Sunday, February 01, 2009

Tragedy strikes again, in Molo

Even as Kenya is reeling from the continuing tragedy of the Nakumatt Downtown store fire, another tragedy has befallen its people. More than 90 of them killed last night, hundreds in critical condition.

A fuel tanker is reported to have overturned lat night near the farming town of Molo in Kenya's Rift Valley. A fire broke out when hundreds of locals looking to collect the spilled oil rushed in.  Authorities are still unsure what the source of the spark was, although there are allegations that it was a deliberate action by latecomers who were stopped from joining in the collection by a locally-stationed GSU unit, an allegation reported by both the BBC and the Nation. The GSU, some media houses allege, were looking to participate vicariously in the extraction by extorting money from the oil-collecting public. 

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