Kenyans mourn 142 killed in disasters

Kenya began a week of mourning yesterday for at least 142 people who died in a petrol tanker blaze and another fire in a Nairobi supermarket that have brought a torrent of criticism of poor disaster preparedness.

Flags flew at half-mast and official functions were put on hold as rescuers continued to pull charred bodies from both disaster sites and relatives hunted for missing people.

In one of Kenya's worst accidents of recent times, at least 115 people died when a crowd scrabbling for free fuel crowded round a tanker that crashed near central Molo town on Saturday. The toll rose by nine from deaths overnight in the hospital.