Seven people were killed and at least 121 injured in the collapse of a residential building in Nairobi during heavy rains, Kenyan officials said yesterday.
The Kenya Red Cross said a search team pulled three children and an adult from the rubble of the six-story building in the Huruma area.
The Red Cross said 150 building units and adjacent homes were affected.
Photo: AFP
Rescuers said they could hear voices of five people trapped in the building.
Nominated legislator Johnson Sakaja said that it would be difficult to remove the concrete slabs using heavy machinery without endangering those trapped inside.
Live TV footage showed the National Youth Service and firefighters removing stones by hand and a crowd cheering as a child was removed from the rubble.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the scene.
Hours-long traffic jams caused by flooded roads delayed rescue teams trying to reach the scene, said Nairobi police chief Japheth Koome, who confirmed the death toll.
Kenya is in the middle of its two-month rainy season.
Jacob Kiruma, who said he lived in the house adjacent to the one that collapsed, said the building was constructed “shoddily.”
The structure had been built in less than five months and the 126 single rooms were quickly occupied at a rent of US$35 a month, Kiruma said.
Area legislator Stephen Kariuki said this was the second building to collapse in a year.
He accused the county government of failing to follow through with demolitions of buildings that were identified as unfit for people.
Taking advantage of a high demand for housing in Nairobi, some property developers bypass building regulations to cut costs and maximize profits.
Kenyatta last year ordered an audit of all the buildings in the nation to see if they were up to code after eight buildings collapsed, killing at least 15 people.
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