Africa

Kenya: Building demolition work goes wrong, killing several

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Rescuers carry the body of a man away from the scene where a building collapsed in the Blue Estate area of Shauri Moyo in Nairobi.
Rescuers carry the body of a man away from the scene where a building collapsed in the Blue Estate area of Shauri Moyo in Nairobi. (Simon Maina/AFP)

A plan to dismantle a building in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, went wrong, killing at least four people and injuring four others, the authorities said.

According to a statement by the country’s interior ministry, the army and other institutions took part in rescue efforts to find people trapped under the rubble, with at least two people being pulled out alive.

The ministry also said the building had been “earmarked for removal under the ongoing Nairobi River Regeneration Project”.

It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the incident.

Building collapses relatively common in Nairobi

Housing in Nairobi is in high demand, with construction companies often violating building codes or bypassing regulations, making building collapses relatively common in the Kenyan capital.

READ | Russia agrees to stop recruiting Kenyans to fight in Ukraine war

Kenya’s National Construction Authority found that 58% of buildings in Nairobi were unfit for habitation.

The assessment followed the collapse of eight buildings in 2015, which killed 15 people.

This article was originally published on dw.com.

Felix Tamsut