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Police said more than 100 people were killed on Monday when a fuel pipeline burst into flames in a slum area in the Kenyan capital.

"We are putting the number of dead at over 100, we are waiting for body bags to put the victims into," said area police commander, Thomas Atuti.

The explosion happened in Nairobi's Lunga Lunga industrial area, which is surrounded by the densely packed tin-shack housing of the Sinai slum.

"There had been a leak in the fuel pipeline earlier, and people were going to collect the fuel that was coming out," said Joseph Mwego, a local resident. "Then there was a loud bang, a big explosion, and smoke and fire burst up high."

Many residents were caught up in the blaze, and an AFP reporter at the scene counted scores of charred bodies around the fire.

"I have never seen this in my life. I have seen women and children burnt like firewood. The very worst was a woman burned with her baby on her back," said local resident Francis Muendo.

"We're not sure about the number (of casualties)" said Dan Mutinda, a Red Cross official coordinating relief efforts at the scene of the fire. "From where I am I can see over 40 bodies burned completely."

Some of those who caught fire jumped into a nearby stream to try to extinguish the flames when their clothing and hair caught fire, but many succumbed to their injuries in the water. Police have placed a net across the stream to prevent the bodies from drifting away.

Mutinda said the last of the injured have now been evacuated and he and his colleagues are now concentrating on "support and tracing services".

Local television channels said scores of burn victims had been taken to hospital and showed footage of the injured being ferried by ambulance. Fuel leaks and oil tanker accidents in Africa often draw huge crowds scrambling to scoop fuel, resulting in many deaths due to accidental fires.

In 2009, 122 people were killed after a fire erupted while they were drawing fuel from an overturned tanker in western Kenya.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

?Christine Mallari is an intern at China Daily. She was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in a nearby suburb before moving for college. After recently graduating from the University of Iowa with a degree in English, Journalism and Mass Communications, she moved to Beijing to work with China Daily. Though she has been working in journalism since high school, this is her first time doing so abroad.