NAIROBI, KENYA – Consolato Mucheke, 18, says he has never come as close to death as he did last Monday on a rainy morning in a slum of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
He had just finished breakfast and was hanging around his home in the Sinai slums when he saw his friends and neighbors rushing to the river with containers.
"I really don’t know how I survived."
He didn’t need to ask what was happening. An oil pipeline that passes near the slum leaks occasionally, and the poor slum dwellers, eager not to miss an opportunity to make quick cash, typically rush to scoop the oil. This time, oil had spilled into a sewer that drains into the nearby Ngong River, and people were rushing to collect the valuable commodity at the edge of the river.
“I took two jericans and followed my friends,” he says, referring to narrow containers that hold liquid. “I found my father at the spot where people were scooping oil, but we didn’t talk. Everyone was scrambling for the commodity.”
Then, there was an explosion.
“Suddenly, there was a huge blast, and the whole place was engulfed in flames,” Mucheke says from his bed in Kenyatta National Hospital.
He was admitted to the hospital after suffering serious burns on his head and limbs in the fire.
“Everyone scampered for safety,” he says. “I ran despite poor vision and collapsed several meters from the river. I really don’t know how I survived. It was bad.”
He says he is lucky to be alive. Nearly all the people who were scrambling for the oil – mostly men – were later found or were burnt to ashes along the river. Some had jumped into the river to escape the flames, but the river, too, was on fire because of the oil that had spilled into it.
Mucheke says his father is still missing.
“My mother has visited all hospitals and morgues, but she has not found him,” says Mucheke, supporting his heavily bandaged head with his hand. “We are now hoping that the DNA tests being carried out will establish whether he was among those who died.”
Survivors say they are lucky to have escaped the fire that killed more than 100 Kenyans in the slum. Kenya Pipeline Company, the government-owned petroleum company here, has denied responsibility for the explosion, and the government has spent millions providing medical care and compensating those affected. Some say the underlying problem is the slums themselves, which create unsafe living conditions. Kenya Pipeline Company and the government have made efforts to remove people from the slums, but local politicians say residents must be compensated and provided with alternative and affordable places to live.
The fire occurred last Monday morning. Some reports indicate that a cigarette butt thrown into the oil-filled sewer caused the explosion.
More than 100 people were killed, and a similar number were injured as the fire spread to the densely populated slum. An unknown number of babies died at a nearby day care center, which was gutted by the inferno. Kenyatta National Hospital has been overwhelmed by the number of fire victims.
Mucheke’s neighbor, 13-year-old Samwel Wanga, also suffered serious head injuries. Samwel, a primary school student, says he wasn’t in school at the time of the explosion because of a doctor’s appointment that day.
“As I washed my clothes, I heard a huge bang and went to check what was happening,” he says. “As I rushed to the scene, I saw people running in my direction, and, as I turned back, I heard another blast, and the whole place was covered by flames.”
Like Mucheke, Samwel made it out alive.
“I continued running and escaped the flames,” he says.
