Kenya pipeline fire kills 100

More than 100 people died Monday after a petrol pipeline exploded in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, police said.

The BBC said local media had quoted more than 100 bodies found after the blaze in the city's Lunga Lunga area.

The pipeline ran through the heavily populated slum of Embakasi between the city center and the airport.

The Xinhua news agency spoke to a local official by telephone, who said a pipeline burst near the fuel depot off Lunga Lunga Road, causing an oil spill which went undetected for hours, spilling into the nearby Sinai slum.

It exploded when residents who were smoking rushed to fetch the oil.

Firefighters were working to douse flames that threatened the slum.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear.

A spokesman from St. John's Ambulance Service said dozens of victims were rushed to hospitals around Nairobi, and many were burned beyond recognition.