A businessman counted huge losses on Sunday as a fire gutted his 12 buses and a lorry in a garage at Kenyatta Road Estate in Juja.
Joseph Kariuki, the proprietor of Chania Special Travellers Sacco, said he was alerted by phone by the caretaker.
The caretaker, who requested anonymity, said he was woken up by a loud bang at about 3 am.
“I found two of the buses on fire. I quickly opened the gate to the garage as residents had already responded. Before the firefighters arrived, the raging flames had spread to other buses and a lorry,” he said.
“The garage is surrounded by bushes. I suspect that those who started the fire hid there."
The vehicles plied the Thika-Nairobi-Mombasa route.
/JOHN KAMAU
/JOHN KAMAU
/JOHN KAMAU
Kariuki, who led detectives from Juja police station to the scene to assess the damage, said the cause of the fire had not been established.
“This is shocking. I’m pleading with the authorities to conduct thorough investigations and unravel the cause. I suspect malicious arsonists were behind it," he said.
The residents helped Kiambu firefighters to put out the fire in about one and half hours.
Police said investigations were launched.
