Four fishermen on Sunday were nursing serious burns at the King Fahd County Referral Hospital in Lamu town after their boat burst into flames at Ras Kiamboni on the Kenya-Somalia border.
Lamu county disaster management and peace-building director Shee Kupi said that two of the victims had to be referred to Mombasa for further treatment.
Kupi said the explosion was caused by a leaking jerrycan of petrol being ferried in the boat.
The source of ignition was not immediately established and an investigation was underway.
The four were among a crew of ten who had travelled to Somalia to purchase fish in bulk for resale in Kenya.
They were on their way back from Somalia when the boat suddenly burst into flames near Ras Kiamboni, injuring the four men. The rest of the crew jumped into the ocean and swam to safety.
The Kenya Defence Forces soldiers at the Ras Kiamboni military base responded to the explosion and rushed the casualties to the Ras Kiamboni military base for first aid treatment.
The evacuation was coordinated by the Lamu Disaster Management Unit. Kupi had them rushed them to the King Fahd hospital in Lamu town with the other two men later referred to Mombasa.
He praised the cooperation between the KDF and the county disaster management team that helped in saving the lives of the four injured fishers.
The sailors suffered serious leg, hand, stomach and chest burns, but were in stable condition at King Fahad Hospital.
Kupi praised the successful coordination of cross-border humanitarian evacuation, saying it is a result of the committed and ongoing peace-building initiatives between Kiunga communities in Kenya and Ras Kiamboni in Somalia. "These ties are geared towards securing our borders,” he said.
Boats bursting into flames are not a new phenomenon in Lamu county.
In early 2020, a man was seriously injured after a boat he was in caught fire in Lamu Island. He escaped with leg burns. A cigarette is believed to have caused the blast.
