Explosive Goes Off Killing Student in Laikipia

An explosive device was reportedly set off by two siblings working on a farm has left one of them dead and the other seriously injured.

Albert Chepkurui, an 18-year-old student at Olmoran High School in Laikipia West constituency, was reportedly tilling the land with his brother when they accidentally set off the device.

According to an uncle of the victims, Stephen Malakwen, the explosive devices were left behind during a police operation in the area last year.

“The two were at a farm around Olmoran when they hit some kind of metal object which exploded, leaving Albert seriously wounded and his brother dead,” Malakwen stated.

[caption caption="An explosive device recovered during an operation "][/caption]

“Chepkurui has had both legs amputated after being moved from Nyahururu Hospital to a private facility in Eldoret,” he added.

The grieving uncle further urged the government to be careful when conducting such operations adding that the explosives put lives in danger, especially since an untrained eye cannot deduce what they really are.

The incident comes barely two days after politician Koigi Wa Wamwere told journalists that while working in his radio station at Engashura area, a few kilometres north of Nakuru town, it feels like he is in a war zone due to explosives going off.

Koigi, who lives near two stone quarries where daily mining explosions reverberate through his floor noted that the blasting not only shakes his psyche but the entire foundation of his house.

Residents stated that the quarry was using explosives, which put their lives at risk and environmentalists too, warned of massive soil erosion and deadly landslides should the use of explosives continue.

[caption caption="Politician Koigi wa Wamwere"][/caption]

According to geologist Samuel Kamau, dangers of the use of explosives in quarries in residential and commercial places have a dire impact on buildings and generally on the environment.

 

 

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