By Robert Nyasato and Kepher Otieno
Six people escaped death when a one-storey building collapsed in Mosocho, Kisii County.
Three people who were injured are admitted to Kisii Hospital. A survivor Isaac Otero said the injured were removing timber on the ground floor when the building collapsed.
He said the three were injured after they were trapped inside the collapsed building. Otero suspects the house collapsed because of heavy rains.
A witness, Fred Nyakundi, who is one of the masons, blamed the tragedy on substandard building materials.
proper materials
He claimed that he had advised the owner to buy proper building materials, but he ignored his advice.
More than 20 people work at the site, but only six were assigned on the fateful day to remove the timber.
Kisii OCPD Tom Mutisya who visited the survivors in hospital said police are investigating the incident.
Mr Mutisyia asked developers to use right construction materials to avoid endangering people’s lives.
The incident comes barely 48 hours after another building collapsed in Bungoma and killed one person.
Meanwhile, the Institution of Engineer’s of Kenya (IEK) is expected to host an international meeting in Nairobi next week.
The meeting is expected to address safety codes. IEK has been angered by incidents of collapsed buildings under construction and is seeking to crackdown on bogus architects.
On Monday, IEK’s development Communicator Trudy Mbaluko confirmed to The Standard the next week’s meeting was on.
The 19th International Engineer’s conference has the theme "The role of engineering practitioners in the implementation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010".
It will take place from May 9 to 11 at KICC, Nairobi, and will be opened by Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
IEK said building standards in the 47 counties should be enforced if cases of building tragedies due to rush to invest are to be curbed.
