Alert watchman saves lives seconds to building collapse

Police and residents at the scene where a five-storey building collapsed. [Chrispen Sechere, Standard]

A night watchman saved scores of lives by sounding an alarm before a five-storey building collapsed on Tuesday night.

No injuries were reported, thanks to the watchman, who shouted a warning that the building in Jua Kali estate was about to cave in, saving the lives of neighbours and a tenant who was asleep inside.

"I heard the watchman shouting that the house was crumbling. When I ran out, I saw the cracks widening rapidly,” said Dickson Magoha, who was asleep inside the building.

Impending disaster

According to Mr Magoha, the incident would have been tragic had the watchman, Francis Andati, not alerted him and neighbours of the impending disaster.

Kakamega Central OCPD Joseph Chebii said police were still trying to find out if there was anyone else inside the building when it came down.

An official from the county's housing department said the building had not been approved and accused the property owner of defying orders to halt construction.

He said the owner had been issued with written orders barring any construction work at the site until the county gathered background information on the project.

“We did our best to stop the construction through issuing stop order notices. We had not conducted any inspections on the building,” he said.

Victor Omondi, one of the casual labourers at the site, said the building had developed huge cracks before it came down.

"We were the last people to vacate the building after a long day of putting some finishing touches," he said.

Residents said the building had been completed in one year. 

Efforts to reach the owner, said to be a businessman, were fruitless.