Seven people are missing after a multi-storey building under construction collapsed in the Eastleigh area of Nairobi, Kenya. Rescue teams are continuing to search the huge pile of concrete and metal, and have already made contact with some of the missing.
The building collapsed around noon on October 23 on a busy shopping street. There are conflicting reports about its height: AFP describes it as 16 stories, while the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation says it is 18 stories. The site had shops on the ground floor and basement.
Sixty-six workers escaped unharmed
Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said 67 people were working at the construction site. Sixty-six managed to escape without injury, while one injured person was hospitalized in stable condition.
“Seven people are reported missing. The rescue team has made contact with some of them and efforts are ongoing to pull them out of the rubble,” Murkomen said.
He said 11 shops on the ground floor and basement were occupied. Police earlier said a woman had been pulled from the rubble and rescuers heard the voice of another person.
The cause of the collapse has not yet been determined
The operation involves the Kenyan Armed Forces, police, Nairobi authorities, the National Youth Service and the Kenya Red Cross. The work is being hampered by the narrow access between neighboring high-rise buildings and the risk of the collapsed structure leaning further towards a neighboring building.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaia said the building had been approved for construction but did not have a certificate of occupancy. He said this meant that the use of the lower floors as shops was illegal.
The cause of the collapse was not reported. Murkomen said a multi-pronged investigation would be carried out involving the police, local building inspectors, the National Buildings Authority and technical experts. Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd and allow access for rescue teams.
Sources: apnews.com, afp.com, kbc.co.ke