A double-trailer gasoline tanker has overturned on its side on the Mombasa Nairobi highway Road causing some shivering moments when locals rushed to the scene to scoop fuel ignorant of the danger they had exposed themselves to.
It was not clear what made the trailer overturn leaving its fuel to spill when people immediately swarmed to the scene to collect some of it.
Several residents including children and women rushed to the scene with jerrycans, basins, saucepans and other containers to collect what they called free ‘manna’ from heaven. Some dug holes from where they collected the highly flammable liquid.
Kenyans have been quick to forget past experiences that have taken away lives during such incidences. Similar incidences are common in Nigeria, where people tap gas pipelines to pilfer fuel for cooking or resale on the black market. In 2006, a gasoline blast killed 200 people in Nigeria.
In 2009 more than 111 people were killed in the Eldoret Nakuru road when an overturned petrol tanker exploded as hundreds of people were trying to scoop up free fuel.
A Fuel Tanker Overturned on Mombasa Road, near Simba Cement factory. Curious & Hungry Kenyans, impoverished by the corrupt state officers, moved swiftly to the scene with jerricans to fetch the fuel. pic.twitter.com/uwAVCSeAJo
— Tired Kenyan (@LusimbaLusimba) May 25, 2019