This archive report was first published on 23 September 2019.
On September 23, 2019, a devastating incident occurred at Precious Talent School on Ngong Road in Nairobi County, claiming the lives of seven pupils and leaving 64 others injured.
The tragedy unfolded at around 7 am when a two-storey building housing junior primary pupils collapsed, trapping many under the rubble.
Rescue operations were immediately launched, with residents, parents, and good Samaritans joining forces to comb through the debris using rudimentary tools.
The Kenya Red Cross reported that dozens of pupils were trapped in the rubble, and Red Cross and EMS response teams were quickly dispatched to the scene.
According to eyewitnesses, the classes that collapsed were housing junior primary pupils, with those in Standard Six, Seven, and Eight being the most affected.
The collapsed building was constructed using sub-standard materials, including iron sheets and cemented floors.
Speaking to journalists, Moses Ndirangu, the manager at Precious Talent School, blamed the Nairobi City County for the collapse, citing the recent digging of a sewer line behind the school as a contributing factor.
"The City-County recently started digging a sewer line right behind the school building, thus rendering it weak and vulnerable to collapsing," Ndirangu said.
He also attributed the school's large population, with over 800 pupils, to its good performance in the National Examination, as well as the lack of a public school in the area.
At Kenyatta National Hospital, 64 casualties were received, with two pupils, a boy and a girl, in critical conditions.
"Most of the injured students are stable and we will treat and discharge them except for the two students. We have done x-rays, CT Scans and other examinations to the pupils," said Dr Evason Kamuri, the acting CEO of KNH.
