By Cyrus Ombati
At least two casual workers were killed and three others seriously wounded after a heap of sand that they were excavating collapsed at a construction site at the Village Market area, Nairobi.
The workers were busy excavating a mountain of sand from a construction site of a building near the Tribe Hotel at the shopping mall when it blanketed them at about 2.30 pm Monday.
The sand had been heaped there from the building that has been under construction along United Nations Road in the area.
Workers said they had warned their construction manager who was overseeing the exercise it was dangerous for them to excavate the sand manually while a bulldozer was also digging at the nearby site but he allegedly forced them to continue with the work.
Police had to save the manager by shooting to the air several times after the rowdy colleagues of those who had been trapped turned on him and beat him senseless blaming him for the deaths.
He was rushed to hospital after he sustained serious injuries. Nairobi Area deputy police boss Moses Ombati.
“We understand one of the workers died as a bulldozer tried to remove the sand from where they had been trapped. The others who had multiple injuries have been taken to hospital,” said Ombati.
The second one was removed dead from the site long after the others had been saved and rushed to hospital.
The police boss said CID had been sent to the site to investigate the circumstances under which the incident happened.
He said if there is any form of negligence on the side of the management of the site, action will be taken.
Witnesses said the mountain of the sand had been excavated from a site where a parking for the four storied shopping mall under construction was to be located.
The Village Market management confirmed the incident and denied the collapse of any wall or building.
“Kindly be informed that the news going round that a wall has collapsed at the Village Market is not true,” the management said in a tweet.
