Six injured in Nairobi as another building collapses

By Cyrus Ombati

Six workers were rushed to hospital after they were injured when a five-storey building they were constructing collapsed in Langata area, Nairobi.

Four victims were treated and discharged hours later after the seven-month-old building that was to be a hotel came down on Sunday at 11am.

The six were all working on the fifth floor when the structure along the Southern by-pass opposite Carnivore Restaurant collapsed.

It was a lucky escape for the six workers who were all on the upper floor. Those discharged were Kennedy Shila, John Baraza, Julius Mutunga and John Asava. Their two colleagues were admitted to the Nairobi West Hospital with chest pains.

Owner sought

According to Baraza, a resident of Kibera slums, they were busy on the fifth floor when they suddenly felt the building shake and crumble.

"It threw us to the ground as it came down. I saw my colleagues on the other side before guards from a nearby house rushed to help us," he told The Standard.

The workers had just ferried bricks, sand, cement and other equipment using the staircase to the upper floor.

"It could have been worse had it trapped us in the middle floors that you can see have been completely destroyed. We came today because we wanted money," he said.

Baraza said they were few on Sunday because it was a Sunday but they usually range between 10 and 15 on weekdays. He added that they earn between Sh300 and Sh700 depending on the work. Another victim, Shila suspects the building collapsed because the lower floors could not sustain the weight of the upper ones.

"We were not there when the foundation was built but we had noticed the lower floors could not sustain the weight. Some sides had bulged and bent and I believe the steel used was the wrong one," he said.

He said an engineer used to visit the site. Asava who complained of pain on the legs said they were mixing sand and cement when he suddenly found himself flung downward.

Nairobi Area PPO Anthony Kibuchi said they are looking for the owner of the building identified only as Kimani, for questioning.

The incident happened five days after another building collapsed in Pipeline and killed four workers.