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Kenya government resorts to social media for live updates on JKIA fire

Kenya government resorts to social media for live updates on JKIA fire

CC image courtesy of kiambuthidj on Flickr

Kenyan government officials and its emergency response teams turned to social media this morning to publish updates on the massive fire that engulfed Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

The Kenya Red Cross, the National Disaster Operations Centre and the principal secretary for interior among others used the platform to give live updates on the state of East Africa’s biggest airport.

The Ministry of Interior and Coordination went live with hourly updates confirming the fire as early as 6am EAT. It said the fire began shortly before 5am.

The Ministry also used Twitter to announce the airport has been shut down and the diversion of all aircrafts to Eldoret, Kisumu and Mombasa international airports.

The Kenya Airports Authority, charged with the management of all airports in the country, were equally updating citizens and its passengers amidst rising speculations of the course of the fire.

Kenya Airways, the country’s national carrier, used the platform to issue a statement and updates its passengers about the cancellation of all its flights.

Kenya’s Red Cross also took advantage of the platform to update that no passenger or staff at the airport was affected by the inferno.

Popular blogger Dennis Itumbi, who was recently appointed the director of digital and new media in the office of the president, also joined the live updates.

The fire comes just a day after flights from the airport were delayed due to a failure of a fuel pump system and days after the forceful evacuation and closure of duty free shops and personnel at the airport.

 

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