Residents Had Raised an Alarm Before Collapse of Gachie Building - Witness

UPDATE 9:17: A body was recovered on Tuesday, August 31, a day after a five-storey building collapsed in Gachie, Kiambu County.

Rescuers who were still at the scene disclosed that they had not yet accessed all floors, hence, were not sure if all the workers had been accounted for.

So far, 10 individuals have been rescued.

Residents of Gachie area of Kiambu County had raised an alarm days before a five-storey residential building that was under construction collapsed on Monday, August 30.

File image of the building that collapsed in Gachie, Kiambu county on Monday, August, 30.

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The residents say they feared the building had not been well constructed as it was leaning towards one side, posing danger to the labourers at the site.

Their concerns were, however, ignored as the owner replaced the previous contractor with another one who was willing to proceed with the construction despite the safety alarm being raised.

"The building had a problem from the very beginning. We raised concerns but nothing happened," a resident narrated.

“This building was constructed too fast. It had some issues when they reached the third floor because residents here complained about it. It appeared it had no balance,” another stated.

The County Government of Kiambu had closed the site on July 7, 2021 but works still continued. The owner, however, never showed up at the site.

So far, 10 construction workers have been rescued with operations underway to establish how many more are still trapped in the debris.

The unfortunate incident happened at around 3:00pm when labourers were busy with construction activities on the sixth floor.

Kiambu County Police Commander, Ali Nuno, reported that no deaths had been reported.

The incident came just days after a lifting machine at a construction site in Kilimani area, Nairobi crumbled, killing nine individuals on August 26,2021.

“We have lost 9 people, they include two Chinese and seven Kenyans," the Kilimani Police boss, Andrew Muturi, stated.

A building in Kilimani area in Nairobi

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