An unidentified number of people are feared dead after a petrol tanker burst into flames along the busy Eldoret – Malaba Highway after the driver of the tanker lost control of the vehicle.
Confirming the incident, Elisha Odhiambo, the commissioner of police in charge of operations in Western Region told K24 Digital that the fuel tanker lost control and rammed into a Lorry which hit a saloon car before the tanker rammed into a electricity transformer where it burst into flames.
An eyewitness who spoke to K24 digital said the bodies of six people were recovered from the inferno with the Western Region Police Commissioner saying only one body was identified as that of the Lorry driver.
“Six people who suffered burns in the accident were rushed to Webuye County Hospital while one was taken to Lumakanda Hospital,” the police commissioner added.
Three buildings which were housing ten shops near the scene of the accident also caught fire destroying property of an unknown value in the Thursday, August 26 accident.
Residents residing along the highway watched helplessly as the raging flames ate up the tanker and two vehicles plus the shops before the firefighters from Kakamega and Eldoret responded to the call of alarm.
“We tried to rescue a number of people who had been trapped in the Nissan but we could not manage to save all of them as the fire was strong,” one of the witnesses said.
Although what led to the loss of control by the driver of the fuel tanker has not yet been established, Odhiambo cautioned drivers not to speed down the highway as he asked pedestrians to keep the required distance away from the road.
