Siphoning fuel has dire consequences-Athi River residents told

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• Police say residents have developed a habbit to rush to accident scenes to siphon fuel.

• Mukuusi says uinstead of rescuing victims, their major objective is to loot.

Athi River residents have been cautioned against running to accident scenes to siphon fuel.

Sub-county police commander Samuel Mukuusi on Saturday said it is unfortunate that locals have developed a habbit of rushing to siphon fuel from tankers that overturn along Mombasa Road.

Mukuusi said it is a high time the residents are sensitised of consequences and dangers of such incidences.

He said it is unfortunate that the majority of the Athi River residents in Machakos County rush to accident scenes to loot instead of rescuing victims.

The police chief was commenting on an incident where police repulsed residents who were siphoning fuel from a tanker that overturned along Nairobi – Mombasa road at Lukenya area on Saturday.

“The tanker rolled after its driver lost control, I had to dispatch police officers to the scene to repulse the locals who were siphoning fuel using jerricans and bottles so as not to lose a lot of fuel,” said Mukuusi.

Mukuusi spoke to the Star on the phone on Saturday.

 “Africans have never learned from experience, the likelihood is that many people could get burnt. Police officers arrived at the scene in good time and secured the tanker,” he said.

He said the tanker was ferrying petrol from Mombasa towards Nairobi general direction when the incident occurred.

The police boss said they were forced to seek helping hand from the Kenya Railways who gave out one of the trains to pull the tanker.

“It is a very unfortunate scenario. The residents have forgotten that we lost people in Kericho, Sachang’wan, among others.

More than 123 people died in the Sachang’wan oil tanker fire tragedy as people scrambled for free fuel on January 31, 2009.

For residents of Sachang’wan, a little known village in Molo district, January 31, 2009, was a Saturday like any other when they went on with their regular daily chores.

Unknown to them though, a tanker ferrying some 50,000 litres of unleaded petrol that was headed for Juba in Southern Sudan would overturn at the stretch, about 32 kilometers west of Nakuru town and kill 123 people,  disrupting the vibrant lifestyle of the residents.

Ninety-one of them were burnt to death at the scene while 32 have since died in various hospitals.

SOURCE: the-star.co.ke


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