A fire at Nairobi's Gikomba market killed 15 people on Thursday less than a year after a blaze destroyed much of the Kenyan capital's largest open-air market. "We have lost 15 people from this tragedy this morning," said regional coordinator Kangethe Thuku.
"We're yet to establish the cause of this fire," he said, which is believed to have started in a timber yard.
Shoddy wiring has been blamed for past fires at Gikomba, with traders saying there have been numerous smaller fires in recent months.
Thursday's pre-dawn blaze began at 2am (2300 GMT) and left over 70 people injured, destroying many of the market's wood and tarp stalls where second-hand clothes, shoes, vegetables and other items are sold on the eastern edge of the city.
A police officer at the scene said emergency services continued to search the area and that several people were missing
"We are still trying to get to some corner (of the market) which has heavy smoke, because part of the area has not been accessed due to live electric wires," the officer said.
Hundreds of people crowded around the smouldering ruins of the market, desperately trying to retrieve their goods as gas canisters, swept up in the inferno, could be heard exploding. "Oh God! What have we done to deserve this?" exclaimed one trader who had lost everything in the fire.
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