At Least 15 Dead, 70 Injured After Fire Razes Kenya Capital Market

A general view shows the smouldering debris following a fire that gutted the timber dealership at the Gikomba market and nearby homes in central Nairobi on June 28, 2018. PHOTO: SIMON MAINA / AFP

A general view shows the smouldering debris following a fire that gutted the timber dealership at the Gikomba market and nearby homes in central Nairobi on June 28, 2018. PHOTO: SIMON MAINA/AFP

A fire at Nairobi’s Gikomba market on Thursday killed 15 people, less than a year after a blaze destroyed much of the Kenyan capital’s largest open-air market.

“We have lost 15 people from this tragedy this morning.

“We’re yet to establish the cause of this fire,” he said, which is believed to have started in a timber yard,” said a government official who is the regional coordinator Kangethe Thuku.

The pre-dawn blaze left over 70 people injured and destroyed many of the market’s wood and tarp stalls where second-hand clothes, shoes and vegetables are sold on the eastern side of the city.

A police officer at the scene said emergency services continued to search the area.

“We are still trying to get to some corner [of the market] which has heavy smoke, because part of the area has not been accessed due to live electric wires,” the officer said.

AFP