Death toll rises to four in Mombasa blasts

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Death toll has risen to four following three explosions that rocked Mombasa’s Central Business District.

The blasts ripped apart a Chania Travellers bus, shattering windows and mangling metal, sending residents in the coastal city into a panic. Chania Travellers plies the Thika-Mombasa-Malindi route.

The explosion also ripped off the rear of a bus christened Sharter Link that was parked next to the one that bore the brunt of the blast.

The other blast went off in Nyali near one of the popular resorts but no one was injured.

The blasts came at a time when police have heightened security over looming threats from Al Shabaab radicals who have previously blasted away at public places.

Eye witnesses and emergency rescue workers told the Sunday Nation that they had counted at least three who had succumbed to injuries at the blast at the Kenol/Kobil petrol station opposite Coast Bus terminus.

Police and rescue workers rushed off thirteen people to Coast General Provincial Hospital.

Heavily armed police and emergency services rushed to the scenes of the blasts to rescue the injured.

There was confusion as members of the public, anxious to see what had taken place milled around the scene as emergency workers rushed to the rescue.

Members of the public assist in the rescue of the injured people at the blast scene in Mombasa at the Kenol/Kobil petrol station opposite Coast Bus terminus on April 3, 2014. PHOTO/NATION

At the scene was the Mombasa County police commander Robert Kitur was leading the security operation.

“We are aware of two explosives in Mombasa county. We are already at the scenes and there is no need to panic. Everything is under control,” said Mr Kitur as he planned his next course of action.

The military was also monitoring the situation.

“Hand grenade explodes inside Chania Bus at Mwembe Tayari in Mombasa. Three confirmed dead, one passenger allegedly entered the bus with a grenade,” said a military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir on his twitter account.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack and it is feared the toll could rise higher.

Reported by Daniel Nyassy, Wachira Mwangi, Zaddock Angira and Otiato Guguyu