Witnesses at the Fedha Bus Stop explosion yesterday afternoon recounted a tragic series of events that could have been avoided had the driver of a 14-seater matatu heeded their warnings not to start his vehicle amidst a gas leak from a tanker transporting Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) along Outering Road.
The Nation reconstructs the critical 15 minutes leading up to the explosion.
At 12:16 pm, the Fedha bus stop along the bustling Outering Road was busy as usual. Five minutes later, an LPG tanker turned left from Outering Road, heading towards the service lane adjacent to the Fedha bus stop, just meters from the highway.
This bus stage is near the Pipeline Railway Station, a daily boarding point for commuters heading to town.
To reach the service lane, vehicles must cross a railway line and take an immediate right turn.
However, this maneuver did not go as planned, and the tanker got stuck on the railway line at 12:20 pm.
“When the tanker hit the railway, smoke started billowing from the vehicle, and we realized it was a gas leak. The driver told everyone to move away,” a guard at the railway station recounted.
Within moments, the area was cleared, motorists diverted their routes, causing a traffic jam, and business owners shut down their shops.
At 12:25 pm, a 14-seater matatu approached the stuck tanker. Realizing the imminent danger, the driver and conductor quickly alighted, leaving the matatu a few meters from the tanker.
By 12:28 pm, gas had spread throughout the area. Despite warnings from bystanders not to approach the vehicle, the matatu driver decided to go back to his vehicle.
A video recorded at 12:29 pm shows him moving towards the matatu amid pleas from onlookers, “Do not go for the vehicle. The lorry will explode.”
At 12:30 pm, the driver boarded the matatu. Within seconds of starting the engine at 12:31 pm, a massive explosion occurred.
The LPG tanker had exploded, destroying the matatu. “We knew something terrible was about to happen.
As soon as we saw him walking to the matatu, we retreated from the area,” said Ken, a roadside vendor.
Ken, like other vendors, lost his stock in the fire, which reached his business 30 meters away from the explosion.
Immediately after the blast, the scene was eerily still. It was unclear if the matatu driver had survived.
Then, still within the 12:31 pm timeframe, the driver emerged from the direction of the charred matatu, his clothes shredded and his skin visibly burned.
“Please help me, please help me!” he pleaded in pain. Shockingly, video footage reviewed by the Nation showed no one coming to his aid; some even ran from him.
Speaking to the Nation an hour after the blast, Embakasi Sub-County Commander Wesley Kimetto confirmed no fatalities, though one person, the matatu driver, was seriously injured and rushed to the hospital.
“We have closed off the road and are evacuating people nearby, keeping curious onlookers away for safety reasons,” he stated.
