At least 30 people have been injured following a blast that went off inside Sasa Boutique, an apparel shop located at Assanand’ds House on Moi Avenue, Nairobi.
The building which is sandwiched between Mount Kenya University Towers and KREP Bank brought the city to a standstill as bystanders tried to help victims vacate the premise.
Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere allayed fears that this was neither a grenade nor a bomb attack, requesting Kenya Power to investigate the possibility of an electric fault within the building.
According to Mr Iteere, 27 people were injured in the blast, with 4 getting serious injuries. The injured were taken to various hospitals within Nairobi to undergo treatment, with KNH receiving most casualties.
“I don’t think that this is a bomb or a grenade. We have started looking onto the matter, but I believe it’s due to electric faults in the building. Four people are critically injured and are in high dependency unit,” said Iteere.
This prompted closure of some roads in the city including Moi Avenue, River Road and Tubman Streets, allowing only emergency vehicles, which Iteere said will prevent stampede into the area, but will be reopened later in the evening.
An eye witness who identified herself as Harriet Kola said that there was huge blast rubble followed by smoke and fire in the area, injuring many.
“First there was a blast that was succeeded by smoke and fire as occupants of this building wailed following the pain they suffered that was caused by the fire. Some ran inside after the fire to rescue their colleagues,” said Harriet during an interview with a Business Today reporter.
Bomb experts in the company of Iteere experts arrived at the scene moments after the loud explosion followed by a fireball and swiftly launched investigations to examine the root cause of the explosion.
Internal Security Assistant Minister Orwa Ojode and Minister for Nairobi Metropolitan Development Jamleck Kamau arrived at the scene shortly and calmed the crowd which was struggling to catch a glimpse of the blast.
Victims who could barely walk were wheeled away to waiting police vehicles and ambulances, as they were given first-aid services by Red Cross Society people as well as those from St. John Ambulance en route to hospital, writhing in pain.
