The Nairobi county government has waived the medical fees of the Embakasi gas explosion victims.
In a statement, Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja said that the exemption will be at public county hospitals.
“The county government has also waived all medical fees at the County facilities attending to the injured and bereaved. We have also mobilised relief items, in conjunction with other agencies, to ensure the comfort of all those affected,” Sakaja said.
“Currently, all county health and medical teams are also managing the situation and also working hand in hand with the County Disaster and Risk management teams who continue to provide the necessary support to the victims of the fire incident,” he added.
At least two people died and several were injured in Thursday night’s explosion in Embakasi near the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
Authorities say the gas explosion felt miles away occurred at Mradi area sending shock waves and panic in the city.
According to government spokesman Isaac Mwaura, a truck filled with gas cylinders exploded at around 11pm on February 1, igniting a huge fireball that spread to godowns and a residential area nearby.
The gas facility is said to have been operating illegally, with government agencies including the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), saying that it had rejected applications made by the facility.
EPRA, in a statement on Friday, said that the gas filling station in Embakasi, Nairobi had previously failed to meet the set criteria for an LPG storage and filling plant in that area.
The facility is said to have lacked designs that meet the safety distances stipulated in the Kenya Standard as well as failed to submit a Qualitative Risk Assessment (QRA) indicating the radiation blast profiles in the unfortunate case of an explosion.
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