At least four people succumbed on Sunday evening after a septic tank caved in beneath a hall where football fans had gathered to watch a match in the Bamburi Mwisho area in Nyali Constituency, Mombasa County.
The structure, reportedly used for screening football and movies, was constructed directly above the tank, which collapsed during the screening, trapping an unknown number of people.
According to the Mombasa County Commissioner, Mahmoud Noor, the incident was confirmed, revealing that the victims were inside the hall when the floor suddenly caved in.
''They were watching a football match when the incident occurred, and they fell inside. Everything is trapped inside the septic," a relative to one of the victims stated.
The residents demanded that the county government of Mombasa provide details on how the structure was built without proper approval.
Police officers and county emergency teams were deployed to the scene shortly after the incident to aid the rescue operations.
Rescue operations are still underway, with responders attempting to retrieve bodies and search for potential survivors trapped beneath the rubble.
The county government of Mombasa and the local administration have yet to give an update on the rescue operations.
The incident adds to the latest concerns over the safety of buildings in the coastal region. On April 3, tension gripped residents near Coast General Hospital in Mombasa after cracks appeared in a residential building, sparking fears of collapse.
Occupants of the 11-storey structure were forced to evacuate as concerns grew over the potential disaster following heavy rains pounding the region.
Preliminary assessments indicated that the building was constructed without proper guidelines, putting residents at risk.
On April 11, a week later, the building was safely demolished by officers from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) using detonators.
