NAIROBI, Kenya — Six people have been killed and five others rescued after an eight-storey building under construction collapsed along Mombasa Road, near the Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Terminus.
The building came down at approximately 9:52 a.m. on Friday, November 13, trapping construction workers beneath the debris.
A preliminary report by the Nairobi City County emergency and rescue team indicated that the top slab of the building caved in, triggering the collapse of part of the structure.
Five people were pulled alive from the rubble and rushed to hospital for emergency treatment, while six fatalities had been confirmed by the time of the latest update.
Three bodies were recovered during the initial rescue operations in the morning, with three more retrieved from the debris later. The six victims were identified as middle-aged men.
“The exact number of workers who were on site at the time of the collapse is still being established. Search and rescue teams are actively combing the debris to locate any individuals who may remain trapped,” the county report stated.
Rescue operation continues
Emergency responders, including the Nairobi City County Fire Brigade and the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team, continued searching through the rubble for anyone who may still be trapped.
Authorities had yet to establish the exact number of workers present when the building collapsed, leaving open the possibility that additional people could be unaccounted for.
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Nairobi City County urged members of the public to keep away from the immediate incident area to avoid obstructing emergency operations.
Motorists using Mombasa Road near the SGR Terminus were also advised to exercise caution and follow directions from emergency personnel as rescue teams continued their work.
The cause of the collapse had not been established in the preliminary report, and investigations are expected to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
