Nairobi — Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja now says all those feared to have been trapped in an eight storey residential building that collapsed in Kahawa West area, Nairobi have been accounted for.
According to the Governor, these include masons who were working on the structure.
Sakaja said the masons who were working on the ground floor of the building had been accounted for.
The masons had been hired by the owner of the building to work on the cracked pillars and walls.
It was then it came down, locals said adding the tenants had been evacuated.
Sakaja added a lady and child who were missing have also been accounted for.
There were more than 60 tenants in the house before they were evacuated.
Sakaja said a building near the collapsed one has been evacuated after it exhibited signs of structural failures.
Nairobi County Deputy Governor Njoroge Muchiri visited the scene of the collapsed eight storey building in Kahawa West to oversee ongoing search mission.
Sakaja said operations are still ongoing at the site with multi-agency teams being deployed.
“Casualties are expected to be minimal as the building had been condemned and evacuations effected by the Nairobi City County’s Planning Enforcement team,” he said.
He said so far, only one casualty has been reported. This was a middle-aged lady who was outside the building and was injured by the falling rubble during the collapse.
A search and rescue mission was Sunday morning launched after the multi storey building collapsed.
Locals had detected the weakness in the building and had mobilized residents to evacuate, police said.
The locals even took videos of the about eight-storey tumbling.
The video showed the residents warn those near there to move away moments before it came down amid screams.
Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei said the residents had been evacuated from the house.
“They knew it was weak and had been told to move out. We are searching if there is anyone therein,” he said.
