Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) says it has contained a suspected release of fuel, after a pipe burst, following a tip off from the public on Monday night.

The incident which took place near Kibos Area in Kisumu County had reportedly no casualty but the firm has commenced investigations into the incident. “We got intelligence from a member of the public of a suspected hydrocarbon release at about 10pm.

We immediately mobilised our Emergency Response teams from our Kisumu Depot. The leak was contained in less than one-and-a-half hours,” said KPC in a statement.

A team led by the Acting GM Operations Martin Wanyama, and Security Manager Harry Kithinji has also joined the team from Nairobi to co-ordinate the response efforts which is investigating the cause of the leakage.

This development puts the integrity of the pipeline on the spotlight after a long period. In 2019, the Senate Energy Committee directed the Energy regulator to probe the roles played by local and foreign consultants as well as the contractor in the construction of Line 5 that leaked barely a year into use.

The committee wanted Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) to establish the culpability of consulting firms for failure to install leak detectors on the Kenya Power Company (KPC) line 5.

This led to the formation of a multi-agency task force consisting of the regulator, KPC and the National Environment Management Authority to propose a short, medium and long-term measures to ensure future pipeline leaks are mitigated against.