Death toll rises to 10 in ill-fated Tassia building

Rescue operation underway in Tassia, Embakasi following the collapse of a six-storey building on Friday. [David Njaaga, Standard]

The police have retrieved three more bodies from the collapsed building in Tassia, bringing the death toll to 10.

“We have recovered 10 bodies and rescued 36 people. Six are still admitted at the Kenyatta National Hospital,” James Wanyoike, the Embakasi Deputy County Commissioner told The Standard.

Mr Wanyoike said while the Kenya Red Cross records indicated that 26 people were missing as of Sunday morning, all of the building’s occupants had been accounted for by the end of the three-day operation on Sunday night.

Some 21 of the affected victims have been staying at the Tassia Catholic Church since Friday, until they find other living arrangements. Wanyoike said yesterday it was still unclear whether the government would assist the affected families.

And for the first time since the tragedy, authorities yesterday admitted that the seven-storey residential building did not meet construction standards.

National Building Inspectorate chairman Moses Nyakiongora revealed that preliminary checks indicated the construction of the building was substandard. 

“The team from the National Building Inspectorate is on the ground to conduct a forensic audit, which will determine the cause of the collapse,” he said.

Four days after the building collapsed, the identity of its owner remains unknown, according to Wanyoike.

“We have tasked the office of the DCI Embakasi Sub-county to urgently look for the owner and contractor and have them arrested and prosecuted,” Wanyoike said yesterday, without explaining why it has taken this long to trace the owner.