A preliminary investigation conducted by the National Construction Authority (NCA) has attributed the collapse of a storey building in the Majengo area of Mombasa to possible soil saturation.
According to the Authority's probe conducted on Monday, November 11, the soil saturation was caused by a soakage pit located near the collapsed building.
In its report, NCA announced plans for another round of investigations that would be conducted in the coming days to determine the actual cause of structural failure. However, in its update, the Authority dismissed allegations that the collapse could have resulted from the failure to meet requisite statutory approvals.
“Preliminary reports have confirmed that the project had the requisite statutory approvals. The report also indicates the possible cause of the collapse to be soil saturation from a nearby soakage pit,” read part of the statement by NCA.
“A detailed investigation will be conducted in the coming days to determine the actual cause of structural failure. Rescue operations are now complete, and the site has been cordoned off,” the report added.
A soakage pit, also known as a soakaway pit is a covered chamber with porous walls built to allow water to slowly seep into the ground. Advisably, soak pits should be between 1.5 metres to 4 metres deep.
The Authority noted that the structure was a proposed 17-floor residential building that was at the initial stages of construction. The building collapsed while the contractor was in the process of carrying out foundation works on one half of the site and excavation works for the second half of the site.
The Monday morning incident reportedly led to one fatality and four casualties, with those affected being construction workers who were undertaking the excavation at the time of the incident.
While confirming reports of the tragic occurrence at around 3pm on Monday, the Kenya Red Cross disclosed that two people were rescued immediately while one person remained trapped under the rubble.
"A multi-agency response team, including the Kenya Police, County Government of Mombasa, and the Kenya Red Cross, is currently conducting search and rescue operations," read part of a statement by the Kenya Red Cross.
Images obtained by Kenyans.co.ke showed both walls of the building completely caved in with construction workers and other rescuers surrounding the structure in an attempt to retrieve those trapped in the rubble.
The Majengo tragedy followed days after the weatherman predicted rains in several parts of the country, including the coastal region. In his forecast, the weather department also predicted rains in Nairobi, Western Kenya, and Nyanza.
The latest incident also adds to the number of buildings that have collapsed in the past two months. In an analogous situation, a seven-storey building collapsed in October this year in the Kahawa West area of Nairobi resulting in the death of a minor.
