I tried to remove property, then house collapsed with my family

Eric Onyango shows a picture of his child who died in the Huruma tragedy. (Photo: David Njaaga/Standard)

Erick Onyango is still pained by an error of judgment which he blames for the tragedy that befell his family.

His two-year-old son, Desmond, died while his daughter Blessing Atieno, four, and his 13-year-old niece Caroline Auma are among those missing following the collapse of a seven-storey building in Huruma, Nairobi, on Friday night.

Earlier on the fateful evening, Onyango, 29, had arrived to the terrifying sight of a tilted building, with neighbours scurrying for safety with household items.

His heart skipped a beat and all he could think of were his children and wife who were having supper in one of the second floor units oblivious of what was happening.

“The building had tilted with huge cracks. Everyone was hurriedly carrying their belongings out of the house,” he recalled Sunday dressed in a borrowed ill-fitting, wet red jumper.

Onyango dashed into the house and started moving out some of his belongings without saying a word to his family, not wanting to make them panic.

Continued eating

“I remember my daughter asked me where I was going. I just assured her everything was fine and urged her to continue eating as I was coming back for them. I should have saved them first. I thought I had time,” he said Sunday, his eyes weary from days without sleep.

Onyango had jumped from the first floor to the ground and he was on his way back to the house to save his family when the building just came tumbling down.

He only saved his new cabinet. His wife Millicent Anyango suffered a broken left leg and is recuperating at his brother’s house in Rongai.

“For Desmond Omondi, I saw his lifeless body. But for my other two children, hope is all I am left with,” he said.

It was a tragic end to a day he had hoped would end with cheer given he had bought a pack of ‘goodies’ for his two children.

But the heavy rains did not make it any easier for him to get home on time before they slept.

He had remained at his workplace in Lang’ata where he is as an electrical mechanic, hoping for the rains to subside.

When this did not happen, he decided to brace the rains determined to see the smiles on the faces of his children while handing them the goodies before they slept.

He walked from Lang’ata to Mathare before he boarded a matatu that dropped him at the chief’s office in Huruma.

Onyango, who was planning to move into a vacant house in the building’s adjacent block blames the caretaker nicknamed ‘DJ’ for remaining mum when he could see how unsafe the building was becoming with the rains.

Kevin Odhialo was not so lucky. His wife Belinda Juma and their two children are still missing.

“The 10pm call I received when I was at work in Westlands was the worst in my life,” he said turning his face away to avoid shedding tears.

It was that 10pm call from a neighbour that also prompted Tom Mbuya to travel over 400 kilometres overnight from Vihiga County with the hope of finding his loved ones alive.

His wife, Grace Onyango and daughter Felisters Akoya, a Form Three student, were still missing as at Sunday.

“They were my life, my help, all that I had,” he sobbed. He said that he had not changed clothes or eaten since Saturday.

He faulted the slow rescue process.