This archive report was first published on 28 August 2021.
Sidindi Fuel Tanker Tragedy: Survivors Bear Scars 23 Years Later ¶
Alfred Ombus Oruko, a 41-year-old bicycle repairer, remembers the exact time and date of the 1998 Sidindi fuel tanker explosion: 5:30pm on July 13, 1998.
On that fateful day, 39 people perished, and scores were left with serious burns. The injured were mainly residents of Sidindi, Sinywago, and Rambo and Mlaha villages.
Mr. Ombus, who was 24 at the time, stopped his work and rushed to the scene. He had gone there to witness what had happened but quickly changed his mind and joined those who had started siphoning the fuel.
Despite the warning from the driver of the truck, they continued siphoning the fuel. The driver told them that the fuel was not diesel but regular petrol and that they were risking their lives, but his caution fell on deaf ears until there was a loud explosion, forcing them to scamper for safety.
Mr. Ombus remembers seeing his nephew on top of the fuel tanker scooping fuel seconds before the tanker exploded. While he can’t recall what sparked the fire, he said someone could have lit a cigarette.
He had fetched the fuel in his five-litre jerrican when the unfortunate incident happened, burning his hands, back, and legs. Had it not been the overall he wore on top of his trouser, he would have suffered severe burns and died.
Mr. Ombus sneaked out of the ward and went back home after being hospitalized. However, when his condition worsened, he was transferred to Busia District Hospital.
He admitted that the latest accident in Malanga terrified him. Villagers were burnt beyond recognition in the inferno, and relatives had to wait for DNA tests to identify their loved ones for burial.
His friends, John Odongo and Samuel Onyango, who are both hand cart pushers, were among villagers who rushed to the scene of the accident and ended up with severe burns. Both were admitted to Siaya Hospital.
After what happened to them, his two friends have sworn never to go near an overturned fuel tanker again. Mr. Onyango said, “You will never see any of the people who witnessed the Sidindi accident run to scoop fuel, and that is why the generation that perished in Malanga was too young to understand the tragedy that happened 23 years ago.”
Mr. Odongo said, “I can never approach a scene where an oil tanker has overturned even when it is cooking oil dripping from the truck. You will never see me even near a normal accident involving a saloon car, I learnt my lesson.”
Most of the people who survived, he said, had died over the years. Rosalia Juma recalled how she lost her 22-year-old son Joachim Oduor Land 23 years ago. She had left him in the house and gone to the market on the morning of the tragic fuel tanker crash.
When she went back home, she saw somebody running towards her naked with all his skin peeled and he was crying in pain asking her to help him. She did not know what to do and called on her neighbours to help her take her son to hospital.
Her son was rushed to Yala Hospital and later referred to Kisumu’s Nyanza Provincial Hospital, now Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, where he died two days later.
The Malanga incident brought back all the bad memories. Rosalia Juma said, “When I heard about the incident, the image of my naked son’s body, all red, played back in my mind.”
The families lodged a case in court that they claim has dragged on for years, denying them the compensation they had hoped for. Mr. Odongo said among the petitioners were 71 families, including relatives of the 39 people who perished.
They claim all they got was some money from fundraisers held after the accident happened to help them bury their loved ones. Mr. Odongo said, “We are suffering and we have scars on our bodies. Our families have grown. If we were to be given our compensation, it would help us pay some bills and school fees for our children.”
