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Eric Juma and Derek Otieno

At least 13 people died and scores of others injured after a petrol tanker they were siphoning fuel from burst into flames at Malanga trading centre on the Kisumu-Busia highway on Saturday night.

The neighbouring villages of Mutumbu, Lundha, Sirunga, Mwadi, Osodo and Nyabeda were sunk into mourning as the rescue mission slowly turned into a bodies recovery one.

Tens of the homes along the busy road reported casualties as the full impact of the accident emerged during the day.

Early Sunday, villagers reported finding bodies of dead people by the road side.

“This morning, we found several people on the plantations near the scene. I can confirm seeing four bodies. They were collected by police. Others had severe burns,” Caroline Apondi told People Daily.

Her story was corroborated by other people from the neighbouring homes who reported losing relatives in the fire that also destroyed vegetation and other properties, including more than 20 boda boda motorcycles.

Villagers who spoke to People Daily, said the fire started after the tanker, which had collided head-on with a truck ferrying milk from Busia to Kisumu, fell on an electricity pole.

The injured were rushed to the Yala sub-county hospital, the Siaya Referral Hospital and Inuka Medical centre.

Majority of the dead were local villagers who had rushed to the scene of the accident to siphon fuel from the oil tanker.

The accident rekindled memories of the Sidindi fire tragedy barely 10km away from the scene of the Saturday night accident, which claimed 33 lives on July 13, 1998, when a fuel tanker they were siphoning fuel from also burst into flames.

Black spot

Dennis Odenyo, from Mwadi Village was among those who succumbed to the fierce fire as the slight bend along the Kisumu Busia Road that is a blackspot, and a common scene for road accidents. It is not the first fatal accident at the spot.

“He was preparing to leave the country for Dubai. All he was waiting for were the confirmation papers. He had cleared with the authorities and was ready to leave for a new job in Dubai,” the mother Alice Nyakwenda told People Daily.

James Omollo, a boda boda operator at the Malanga Trading Centre, recounted to People Daily how he escaped death narrowly when the tanker burst into flames as he and fellow villagers siphoned the precious commodity.

Omollo said he was saved by a security guard manning a water kiosk who poured a jerrican of water on his burning body.

“I thank God for sparing my life,” said Omolo who had already siphoned 20 litres from the tanker when all hell broke loose.

“I had already siphoned two jerricans of fuel and I was going back for the third one when the tanker suddenly burst into flames,” Omollo stated as he nursed injuries at the Yala sub district hospital.

He recounted how he watched helplessly as a woman and her baby, who was strapped on her back, burnt to death.

“It is so unfortunate that the police, instead of cordoning off the tanker to stop residents from siphoning the fuel, chose to guard the trailer, which was loaded with milk,” he said.

Loud bang

Omollo said he was woken up by his children who reported that they had heard a loud bang.

He called a neighbour who informed him that a tanker had overturned and villagers were siphoning fuel and he immediately rushed to the scene.

Duncan Oduor Ochieng, a Class Four pupil at Mutumbu Primary School, who suffered burns on both legs, said his mother Susan Auma asked them to go for the fuel.

“It is our mother who woke us up and gave us two jerricans to go and scoop fuel from a tanker that had overturned near Malanga Primary School,” said Ochieng.

He stated that the fire left his mother with severe burns on the face and legs.

“The struggle only earned us the burns. The jerricans and the fuel we had scooped were consumed by the fire. If God was not on our side, we would have died in the fire,” said Ochieng.

Hesbon Oduor, a Form Two student at Lundha Mixed Secondary School, who was undergoing treatment at Yala Sub-District Hospital, said he rose from his bed at around 9.30pm when he heard a loud bang.

“I together with my two sisters left to find out what was happening and found people armed with jerricans, struggling to siphon fuel from the tanker. We rushed home, collected a jerrican and rushed back to the scene,” said Oduor.

Oduor said his sisters stood at a distance as he struggled with others to siphon fuel before the tanker burst into flames.

“I suffered serious burns on my legs but I am lucky to be alive, not many people were lucky to survive,” said Oduor.