The owner of an illegal gas filling plant in Embakasi that exploded last week, killing six people and injuring more than 200, has surrendered to the police.
The businessman turned up at the police and was grilled by detectives as the probe into the tragedy unfolded.
Police yesterday announced looking for seven suspects in connection with the explosion, including Derick Kimathi, the proprietor of the illegal gas filling plant; Steve Kioko, Kimathi’s partner.
The driver of the truck is suspected to have caused the explosion and they are yet to confirm whether he escaped or was among the casualties.
And four NEMA officials who were suspended for allegedly issuing a license illegally to Kimathi’s company.
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Through his lawyer, Kimathi told police that he is in the business of transporting LPG products and that last year he made applications to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) to get a license to operate a gas filling plant in the area but the applications were rejected.
He also denies reports that the site where the incident occurred was an illegal gas plant stating that for years it had been a garage.
However, what is not clear is why the garage specialized in repairing only trucks transporting Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
“Our client had not been operating a gas filling operation in that place, the premises in the last few years has been operating as a garage and till Thursday it was still operating as a garage, the motor vehicle that caused this incident was trespassing into his property without his knowledge and consent,” said the lawyer.
He argues that he shelved the idea after EPRA rejected his applications on the grounds that the site was not viable due to its closeness to the public.
Following the incident, the government announced a raft of measures to ensure compliance in the sector.
They include undertaking a fresh risk assessment for all LPG plants with the view of closing all non-compliant sites, demolishing all illegal sites, an immediate rollout of a government LPG growth strategy, and strengthening the LPG data verification framework, among other measures.
