Three-storey building collapses in Kirinyaga county

A three-storey building that was under construction in the Piai trading centre in Mwea East, Kirinyaga County collapsed on Tuesday morning.

Area residents led by Michael Chomba, the residents said that the owner of the collapsed building had stopped construction for the last two months.

Chomba said that they were shocked to find the residential building had collapsed with debris scattered all over the compound that has been fenced all around using a live fence

"We are not aware whether there was anyone in the building by the time of the collapse since the gate to the compound is still locked," he said.

According to Ken Mugo, chairman of boda boda at PIAI, he passed by the building yesterday on his way to Murinduko to drop a customer and the building was standing tall only to find it collapsed at night.

Mary Muthoni, who lives near the building said it came down shortly after 1 am, saying that it was raining heavily when they heard a loud bang which they thought to be a thunderstorm only to find the debris in the morning.

"We heard a loud bang at night, but we didn't take it seriously since it was raining heavily and we thought it was a thunderstorm, it was only in the morning when we found there was no house," she said

She said that they have not been seeing any human or machine activity at the building for some time ruling out the presence of any person being trapped under the building.

By the time of going to press, there was no team from the county government, National Construction Authority, or police officers who had arrived at the site as the main gate remained locked from inside.