Flashback: Terror in Nairobi

The blast completely destroyed a five-storey block

By Africa Affairs analyst Cathy Jenkins

The American embassy in Nairobi was situated in the middle of the business sector and close to the busy railway terminus.

When the bomb went off on 7 August 1998, the area was packed with office workers.

The explosion completely destroyed a five-storey office block and blew out the windows of surrounding buildings, including a 19-storey bank headquarters.

When workers in their office blocks heard a bang in the middle of the morning coming from somewhere around the American embassy, many rushed to a window to see what had happened.

They didn't realise that a few seconds later they would be cut to pieces as the huge bomb which destroyed the embassy shattered every pane of glass close by.

Devastation

People in the tall Cooperative Bank headquarters staggered in darkness down blood-covered stairs.

The Kenyans were ill-equipped to handle the disaster

Outside was a scene of devastation. The concrete embassy building had been reduced to a shell. Alongside it, a five storey office block had collapsed completely.

Injured people were lying all over the ground, crying for help.

Those who weren't hurt began climbing up the remains of the collapsed block, scrabbling with their hands to try to reach people who were trapped in the rubble.

The office block had housed many businesses, including a secretarial college and the bomb had exploded when the area was at its busiest.

Rescue effort

Nairobi hospitals made urgent appeals for donated blood, and they were swamped with people wanting to help.

The Kenyan emergency services launched a rescue operation which was to continue uninterrupted for the following days and nights.

Occasionally they brought someone out alive to the cheers of everyone watching. Mostly they brought out crushed corpses.

The Kenyans were woefully ill-equipped to deal with such a huge disaster and it wasn't until an Israeli search and rescue team arrived that the last bodies were retrieved and the final death toll known.