By Cyrus Ombati

Eight workers of a paint-making factory were on Tuesday evening burnt to death in a fierce fire at a business premises that also serves as a residential house in Nairobi’s Kariobangi South area.

Rescuers sift through debris at the building that housed the ill-fated Picasso Chemical Industries on Wednesday. Eight people died in the inferno. The cause of the fire has not yet been established. It is, however, said the factory handled flammable liquids, which caught fire.

The affected business was a light factory and shop for chemicals that included paints, spirits, glue and other flammable liquids.

Police say three other victims are admitted in hospital in serious condition. The three include a couple that owned the factory. They were trapped in the shop as they tried to contain the fire but were rescued minutes later.

Tragedy is that all the victims are related and were men aged between 20 and 50. They worked at the factory called Picasso Chemicals.

The dead were identified by police as Geoffrey Odingo, Fredrick Odima, Jack Ayayo, Peter Ochieng, Kennedy Okumu, Fred Oteba, Vincent Omondi and Peter Otieno.

Beyond recognition

The victims’ charred bodies were retrieved on Wednesday, long after the fire accident had happened, and wrapped in polythene papers before being taken to the mortuary.

The bodies had been burnt beyond recognition, which forced the police to take them to the mortuary to pick their DNA samples to be used for identification.

Grief-stricken relatives outside the Picasso Chemicals Industry on Wednesday. At least eight people working at the factory were burnt to death in a fire that started on Tuesday afternoon. Photo: Jonah Onyango/Standard

Michael Ouma, a brother of Omondi who was a machine operator said workers at the factory informed him of the death on Wednesday morning.

"I had tried to call his phone but there was no response until this morning when I arrived here to be informed he had died," said Ouma.

He said his brother had four children. They all live in their Siaya rural home.

At the time of the incident, there were 11 people in the factory and only three who are in hospital escaped.

On Wednesday, police said they were yet to establish the cause of the fire. A neighbour, Joseph Oluoch said the victims were busy working on the upstairs section of the factory when the fire broke out.

Only escape route

And as they tried to escape using a single exit, a tank that had paraffin exploded blocking the only escape route.

"They were all trapped there. The other three were out of the room where the fire emanated from before it spread fast," said Oluoch.

A car that was parked outside was also burnt in the incident.

According to Nairobi Area police boss Anthony Kibuchi, the fire broke out at about 4 pm and it took almost seven hours to contain it.

Kibuchi said the premises handled paints, spirits, oil and glue and other flammable liquids, which made the fire spread fast.

The building has seven floors that are occupied by other tenants. They were busy on Wednesday moving out with their property.

The fire also spread to upper floors of the building where the tens of tenants were at that time but no injury was reported.

"It is unfortunate we lost eight lives. Three others are in hospital in serious condition and we are on (the) ground going through the rubble incase there are more," said Kibuchi.

Loud explosions

When the fire broke out, witnesses said they could hear loud explosions from inside the ground floor of the building, which many believe had the flammable liquids.

Fire fighters tried to contain the spread of the inferno as they evacuated those on the upper floors. They were at the scene on Wednesday again going through the rubble.

The search for survivors and victims was called off past midnight on Tuesday because there were no lights in the area. Power supply to the area was affected by the fire. The search resumed on Wednesday morning.

In July 2006, ten factory workers were burnt to death in a fire at a chemical plant in Nairobi along Mombasa Road.

Of the ten victims, eight were casual wor

kers and two were their employers. They were burnt beyond recognition in what was an unnecessary disaster. A chemical mixer exploded as it was being switched on.

Two years later, six workers were killed in another fire incident at a steel-making factory in Athi River. exploded killing them instantly.