The Nairobi County Disaster Management Sector and the Kenya Red Cross have confirmed the successful rescue of six workers who were trapped when a wall collapsed at a construction site in Nairobi’s Central Business District on Wednesday.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the collapse occurred at the foundation level of a building under construction along Kirinyaga Road, near OTC. This prompted an emergency response from the Nairobi County Fire Brigade, the Kenya Red Cross and the national police.
“The Nairobi City County Fire Brigade has successfully rescued six workers who had been trapped in the collapsed building,” the Red Cross said in a brief update.
According to county officials, the rescued workers were taken to Kenyatta National Hospital for specialist medical treatment. The incident was reported at around 5 am.
During a visit to the site, the contractor and some workers could be seen holding a meeting, suggesting that they were ready to resume construction, as the collapsed section of the wall was reportedly not large enough to halt work.
“All 18 workers who were present at the site during the incident have been accounted for, and the site has been officially handed over to the Central OCPD for cordoning off and initiating a formal investigation into the cause of the collapse,’ the county said in a statement.
This incident comes amid a rise in building collapses in the city, which has placed increased scrutiny on the county’s Urban Planning sector.
Recent collapses of buildings under construction in South C and Karen have resulted in four deaths.
Following the deaths of two people in South C, the national police launched an investigation.
Several individuals, including the building developer, engineer, county officials, and National Construction Authority (NCA) representatives, were summoned to provide statements, which the police said were critical to the ongoing inquiry.
Despite the reported deaths, no arrests have been made so far, as families of the victims continue to wait for justice.
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