Tailors Trapped in Basement as Nairobi Building Collapses Into Rubble

Crowds gathered around a mountain of flattened concrete floors in Nairobi’s Eastleigh district after a building under construction collapsed on 9th Street on Friday afternoon, October 23, trapping workers in its basement.

X user Ole filmed the scene from the crowd just minutes after the collapse, writing, “Your Prayers Needed 9th street Eastleigh two of my Tailors trapped in basement. Happened some minutes ago.” Ole later added that the basement and first floor were already in use. The video shows the building’s floors stacked flat on top of each other under a haze of dust, as people climb over the edge of the rubble and stand on the roof of a truck while hundreds of onlookers hold up their phones.

Governor Johnson Sakaja said the building had about 16 floors and had been approved for construction but did not have a certificate allowing anyone to occupy it. He said it broke construction rules, that the owner was being sought, and asked anyone who knows of workers or food sellers who were at the site to give their names to the Kenya Red Cross.

Police said one woman was pulled from the rubble and taken to hospital, where she is out of danger. The number of people still trapped is unknown, and no deaths had been confirmed. Survivors said they saw cracks in a column and ran outside minutes before the building came down.

The Kenya Defence Forces, police, the Kenya Red Cross, the National Youth Service and county teams joined the search with sniffer dogs and excavators, while police fired tear gas to push back crowds. Digging was paused at around 6 p.m. after people trapped under the rubble warned that the machines were cutting off their air. Nairobi’s police commander warned that the owner and anyone who approved the building would be charged.