Water Tank Crashes Down Leaving 17 With Injuries

Homa Bay, Thursday April 20, 2023

K.N.A by Sitna Omar

Seventeen people are nursing injuries at the Homa Bay County Teaching and Referral Hospital after a water tank collapsed Thursday, releasing gushes of water at high pressure.

The casualties included five men and 12 women, among them a child of three months old.

The 21, 000 liter-water tank was set up at the County Stadium in Homa Bay town near Sofia market.

The tank, which was full of water collapsed causing water to gush out injuring both traders and their clients at the same time.

It is reported that before the incident, the residents within the market, majority of whom are traders, were going about their usual businesses before a huge explosion was heard.

Before they could react to the deafening explosion, they were however thrown some meters away by water gushing from the collapsed water tank.

Some of the traders are hotel operators, others dealing in charcoal selling, vegetable vending among other trading activities could understand what was happening

Aziza Akinyi, a casualty, said she was at her shop when she heard the explosion before she was flung to the iron-sheet wall of her shop by water from the collapsed tank.

“When I looked around, I was surrounded with water and trapped inside the kiosk which was also crushed down,” she said.

The casualties were however rushed to the hospital where they are receiving medical attention.

Trizah Moraa, a charcoal seller at the market came out unscathed due to her quick reaction to the explosion.

Speaking to KNA, she explained that out of instinct, she ran away towards the road immediately after the explosion to save her life just in case it was life threatening.

“Everyone was running to save themselves and so I ran to the road where I fell down. I was also covered with water and I could not comprehend what had transpired,” she noted.

The hospital’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Ogolla said most of the casualties had sustained minor physical injuries on the face, trunk and limbs.

“At 10: 00am we started receiving clients who from history got injuries after some tank with a lot of water collapsed. Some of their injuries I think were occasioned by the pressure of water gushing from the tank,” he noted.

He said that the casualties were lucky to have sustained minor injuries, adding that five of them will be discharged later in the day.

“However there is a gentleman who had difficulty breathing and complained of chest pains. We will conduct several other tests and x-rays before we let him go,” he added.

However, no casualty has been reported so far.

The reason behind collapsing of the giant water tank has not been established, but the residents speculated that possibly it was not properly installed in its place.

The traders however decried massive losses incurred after their goods including omena, vegetables, charcoal and others were swept away by the water.

Courtesy K.N.A