30 dead as Kenya petrol tanker crashes, explodes

More than 30 people died when a petrol tanker crashed into other vehicles and burst into flames outside the town of Naivasha in Kenya, officials said.

"Over 30 people were confirmed dead, many were injured and over 11 vehicles were burnt at a road traffic accident along Nairobi-Naivasha," Pius Masai of Kenya's National Disaster Management Unit said on Sunday.

Kenya's Red Cross said that the driver had lost control of the fuel tanker which then crashed into other vehicles and "burst into flames".

The accident occurred at Karai on the busy Nairobi-Nakuru highway on Saturday. Around 11 vehicles are thought to have been involved in the fire.

The witnesses described a fireball engulfing the vehicles with passengers inside.

"It's a terrible incident, people are burnt, some in their cars and others as they tried to escape," said a police officer on the scene.

Given the scale of the disaster, it is expected that the death toll may rise. The accident comes as Kenya is in the throes of a nationwide doctors' strike.