One injured, several missing after building collapses

By Cyrus Ombati

A man was seriously injured and unknown number of people are missing after a six storey building that was under construction collapsed in Nairobi’s Westlands area.

The casual worker was injured on his hands and legs when the building caved in at about 1pm as he and others did final touches on the proposed residential flat.

The survivors said several other workers were busy on site when it happened and could not account for some who were missing.

The affected house also pulled down a section of an already occupied one. It stands on School Lane near Westlands Primary school and it is next to another one which has reached seven floors and is also under construction.

Shocked workers said many of their colleagues could be trapped in the rubble as the slaps collapsed while some were plumping, fixing cables and others were busy plastering it.

“We don’t know who was there and managed to escape. All we know is when it started to collapsed we saw and shouted calling on those who were on the upper floors to escape,” said Bernard Kuti, a worker at the site.

The affected building has been under construction since 2009 and the owners are alleged to have had protracted legal issues with the City Council of Nairobi over approval matters.

Director of City Planning Tom Odongo said they would issue a comprehensive statement at a later stage.

Another survivor Musa Amasa said some of their colleagues had left their areas of work and climbed down for lunch when they witnessed it come down.

“I fear there are some people in there because we were in two groups. One group was busy in this house while the other was in the affected one,” said Amasa.

No search had started three hours after the incident happened as even police and other emergency service providers arrived at the scene.

Nairobi Area deputy PPO Moses Ombati said his officers who were at the scene were conducting head count on the workers and had brought sniffer dogs to try to establish if there was anyone trapped.

“That work will take days to finish because those are more than five storeys which have collapsed. But experts are headed there,” he said.