MOLO (Kenya), Feb 1: At least 111 people died in Kenya when an overturned petrol tanker exploded as people swarmed over it to scoop up leaking fuel in one of the country’s worst accidents, officials said on Sunday.

“Certainly this is a national tragedy. We have just been informed that more succumbed to injuries in hospitals. The total number is now 111,” Interior Minister George Saitoti said as he inspected the scene of the deadly blaze near the Rift Valley town of Molo, 150km northwest of Nairobi.

Bodies charred beyond recognition were strewn across the road as emergency services struggled to cope with casualties.

The injured were rushed to hospitals all over the country. Extra body bags also had to be sent from the capital and the government made an urgent appeal for blood donations.

“Thirty-four survivors who suffered serious burns have been airlifted to Nairobi for specialised treatment,” Saitoti told reporters.

According to witnesses and rescue services, the tanker overturned after being involved in an accident late Saturday.

Dozens of local people converged on the site with jerrycans and other makeshift containers to siphon a few litres of fuel spewing from the wreckage into a ditch.

“I saw a crowd at the scene of the accident, then I rushed there when I heard there was fuel. I had taken the first jerrycan back to my home and when I came back for the second, I heard an explosion and it was like we all caught fire. I don’t even know how I got here,” 25-year-old Michael Kerich said, lying on a blanket on the floor of Rift Valley provincial hospital in Nakuru.—AFP