Kenya Continues Search for Seven People Missing after Nairobi Building Collapse

Nairobi (ANTARA) — Kenyan authorities on Saturday (24 October) continued searching for seven people still missing after a multi-storey building collapsed on the outskirts of Nairobi on Friday (23 October).

“Search-and-rescue operations are ongoing at the site of the building collapse in Eastleigh. Two injured people have been taken to Kenyatta National Hospital,” the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) said in an update, according to Xinhua.

On Friday evening, Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen, Cabinet Secretary in Kenya’s Ministry of Interior and National Administration, said 11 shops on the building’s ground floor and basement were in use when it collapsed.

“Seven people have been reported missing. Rescue teams have made contact with some of them, and efforts are under way to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble,” he said.

The seven missing people are believed to have been inside the shops when the building collapsed, he added.

Murkomen said all 67 construction workers at the site had been accounted for. Sixty-six escaped unharmed, while one was taken to hospital and was in a stable condition.

Authorities have yet to determine whether the collapse damaged or weakened the structural integrity of nearby buildings.

“Details of the rescue operation, conditions at the site and actions taken by the multi-agency team will be provided in due course,” the oversight body said.

An investigation is under way to establish whether breaches of regulations or professional standards contributed to the collapse. Meanwhile, local authorities have begun searching for the building’s owner. Kenya’s National Construction Authority said it had identified the developer, contractor and registered professionals connected with the building.