/ 16 June 2011

Four dead in Nairobi building collapse

Four people died when a building collapsed in Nairobi, officials said on Thursday, after the search for victims was called off.

Officials earlier put the death toll at two following the collapse on Tuesday of the half-finished six-storey building. Eight people were injured.

“There were only four bodies in the rubble and we have retrieved them. The site has been cleared, there are no more bodies of trapped people here,” said Brigadier George Owinow, of the Kenyan army, who led the search and rescue operation.

Witnesses said the building collapsed like a house of cards as floors rapidly buckled beneath each other until they formed a mountain of debris. — Sapa-AFP