Banks looted amid Kenya airport blaze chaos

The first responders to the huge airport fire in Kenya’s capital Nairobi looted electronics and banks during and after the blaze.

Officials told the AP news agency on Thursday that the first responders stole electronics and money from an ATM in Jomo Kenyatta International airport.

Another official said that police guarding the site overnight attempted to a take safe from a bank in the burned-out arrivals hall, which also houses several foreign currency exchanges.

All four officials who described the alleged looting are close to the investigation, the agency said.

The criminal investigations policeman for the airport, Joseph Ngisa, said he hasn’t received formal complaints of theft and that police are waiting for affected institutions to report what they lost in the fire.

‘Regional hub’

A large fire engulfed Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International airport’s arrival hall on Wednesday, prompting cancellations of domestic and cargo flights for one day.

Wednesday’s fire came less than 48 hours after a fuel jet pump failure caused huge delays at the airport, forcing some flights to be rerouted to the airport in the coastal town of Mombasa, Entebbe International Airport in Uganda and Kigali International Airport in Rwanda.

The airport serves as a regional hub for East Africa, with many long-distance international flights landing there to connect to countries across the region.