Wheel of death: Two killed in tyre explosion

The tyre that killed two people in Kisian, Kisumu County, on Saturday. One person was critically injured. [Denish Ochieng', Standard]

Two men were killed and another one seriously injured by a wheel they were trying to repair.

The incident happened in Kisian, some 11 kilometres from Kisumu town on the Kisumu-Busia road, on Saturday evening.

Witnesses said the three – a welder, a lorry driver and a third man – were welding a broken wheel but had not completely deflated the tyre.

The wheel was said to have come loose as pressure built up in the tyre, hitting the three men, who were monitoring the process.

Two of them died on the spot while the third one was rushed to hospital with a fractured skull.

“I was just here where I fry fish when I heard an explosion and saw two people tossed into the air,” said Elizabeth Oginga, who runs a shop just metres from the welding shop.

She said she saw the wheel soar and hit an electricity line before tearing into one of the tin-roofed shops.

“We took off in panic as the men fell back on the ground,” she said, adding that both had deep skull fractures and broken limbs.

The welder was identified as Peter Ogot, the lorry driver as George Ouma, and the survivor as Everest Okoth.

Ms Oginga said she heard one of the men warn that the tyre was overinflated, but his concerns were dismissed just before the explosion.

Police said investigations showed that pressure had built up in the tyre, causing the wheel to come off.

A crowd milled around the scene.  Many said they were shocked that a simple tyre could be so deadly.