This archive report was first published on 31 August 2021.
Rescue efforts are underway at the site of a collapsed five-storey building in Gachie, Kiambu County, where a tragedy struck on August 30, 2021.
According to area police boss Ali Nuno, two more bodies have been retrieved from the scene, bringing the total number of bodies retrieved to three. Three people are still admitted at the Kihara hospital.
The building, which was under construction, caved in at around 2 pm when workers were putting up a slab for the sixth floor. The site engineer has not been present at the scene, making it difficult to determine the exact number of people working at the time of the collapse.
On the day of the incident, workers had spent the better part of the day moving construction material to the 10th and 11th floors of the upcoming 14-storey Qwetu Student Residence. They were under the supervision of an expatriate from China and were using a 70-tonne crane.
As reported by Elisha Odhiambo, a mason at the site, the workers were about to break for their lunch when they heard screams. Odhiambo recounted how he spotted a colleague who was on top of the crane hanging in the air as the machine and the supporting concrete pillars came tumbling.
“We heard screams from the people who were operating the machine and when I looked up, I saw the operator on the ground under the weight of the crane," Odhiambo recalled.
