Kenya mourns over 144 dead in disasters

By Andrew Cawthorne

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya began a week of mourning on Monday for at least 144 people who died in a petrol tanker blaze and another fire in a Nairobi supermarket that have brought a torrent of criticism of poor disaster readiness.

Flags flew at half-mast and official functions were put on hold as rescuers continued to pull charred bodies from both disaster sites and relatives hunted for missing people.

In one of Kenya's worst accidents of recent times, at least 115 people died when a crowd scrabbling for free fuel crowded round a tanker that crashed near central Molo town Saturday.

A cigarette set off the blaze, which engulfed the crowd, also leaving nearly 200 people injured and 100 missing.

In Nairobi, a supermarket burnt down Wednesday, but it was only days later that the scale of the disaster became clear, with 29 corpses pulled out by Monday, the Red Cross said.

"These tragedies happen, but they are ignored," First Lady Lucy Kibaki said, after visiting victims in hospital, in one of numerous acknowledgements by high-profile figures of Kenya's lack of readiness for major accidents.

President Mwai Kibaki declared one week of national mourning and cut short a trip to the African Union (AU) summit in Ethiopia Monday to attend to the situation at home.

Kenyans have lambasted the response to both disasters, saying authorities were unprepared and late. Witnesses spoke of locked fire doors at the Nakumatt supermarket, and hospitals were overwhelmed by the number of dead and injured near Molo.