At least 30 people died when a petrol tanker crashed into other vehicles and burst into flames at Karai near Naivasha on the busy Nairobi-Nakuru highway late on Saturday night.

Kenya’s Red Cross said the tanker driver lost control of the fuel tanker which then crashed into other vehicles and “burst into flames”. 11 other vehicles are believed to have been involved in the fire. Witnesses described a fireball engulfing the vehicles with passengers inside.

“It’s a terrible incident, people are burnt, some in their cars and others as they tried to escape,” said a police officer on the scene.

The accident comes as Kenya is in the middle of a nationwide doctors’ strike.