15 dead as fire guts Kenya's largest open-air market

By Magdalene Mukami and Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya

A huge inferno has gutted East Africa’s largest open-air market, the Gikomba market, killing more than 15 people, officials said on Thursday morning.

“The fire started from inside a timber shop," said Nairobi Regional Commissioner William Kang’ethe Thuku.

“A team of police and firefighters arrived at the scene in a bid to stop the fire. Fifteen people have been confirmed dead and more than 70 others have been admitted with light fire injuries to serious burns.”

Thuku said that the cause of the blaze has yet to be determined but that in previous years, power lines in the area had started fires.

Millicent Omanga, a local shop owner, was crying in the aftermath of the fire, which claimed her business.

“I’ve lost everything, I don’t know where I’ll start, my shop was torched to the ground,” she said.

Search and rescue operations for missing persons are still ongoing.