One rescued, death toll rises to six as police pursue Murang’a building owner

The building that collapsed. [Boniface Gikandi, Standard]

The death toll after a Murang’a building under construction collapsed on Friday has risen to six.

This is after five more bodies were retrieved from the rubbles on Sunday morning.

One more survivor was also reused in a delicate mission led by the Kenya Defense Forces disaster team.

At least eight builders were said to have been trapped in the rubble.

Security agencies are now pursuing the owner of a five-storey building that collapsed on Friday in Murang’a County.

The Meru businessman Abraham Karuti Itabari is said to have allegedly gone underground since the building which was to be a hotel collapsed.

A section of the building at Sun Star Hotel located at Makeji area off the Nairobi- Nyeri highway and neighbouring the prestigious Thika Greens Golf Course came down at around 2.00 pm.

About 58 casual labourers had gone for lunch when the incident happened.

The building was an extension to an existing one which construction experts say was hurriedly done without following the due process.

Rescue operations at the ill-fated building are still in progress being coordinated by Murang’a County Police Commander Ms Donatha Kiplangat.

“So far we have managed to retrieve three bodies and the rescue team will remain at the scene until the five workers suspected to be trapped inside are removed from the debris,” said Kiplangat.

Although preliminary reports indicated that the building might have crumbled due to poor workmanship, Central Regional Coordinator Wilfred Nyang’wanga said the samples from the debris have been collected and submitted for analysis to help establish the cause of the incident.

He said only three families have reported cases of missing persons with the police.

“The hotel owner and those responsible for the construction will be arrested and charged as the law provides upon completion of investigations," said the regional coordinator.

In his remarks, Murang’a Governor Mwangi wa Iria made a scathing attack on the National Construction Authority (NCA) for allowing the shoddy workmanship to proceed despite an indication that they were conducting routine inspections.

The governor said it was a pity that the project came down as those entrusted in ensuring the safety of the buildings failed to read the signs of poor work.

“Since we have noted laxity in the NCA now, all the reports on construction progress will be passed through the county engineer's office to help understand the shortcomings in an effort to end hooliganism in the construction industry,” said wa Iria.