Rescue teams in Nairobi’s Eastleigh neighbourhood have pulled additional survivors from the rubble of a collapsed multi-storey building, offering fresh hope to families waiting for news while authorities work to establish how many people may still be missing.
The building collapsed on Friday, October 23, along 9th Street in the busy commercial district. By Saturday evening, Kenya’s rescue operation had recorded further breakthroughs, with The Star reporting that rescuers had rescued a second person, a woman, and taken her to Kenyatta National Hospital. The Eastleigh Voice later reported that a third survivor had been pulled out alive, though the precise rescue count should be confirmed against the latest official update before publication.
The new rescues mark a change from the early reports on Friday, when police said one person had been brought out and emergency teams were still trying to reach others believed to be trapped beneath the debris. Rescue workers have continued to remove rubble while using specialised teams and equipment to search for signs of life.
The number of people still unaccounted for, however, remains unsettled. Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said about seven people believed to have been inside shops on the building’s lower levels were missing. The Kenya Red Cross later reported receiving 31 missing-person cases, saying it was contacting families to verify the reports and determine how many people might actually remain beneath the collapsed structure.
The two figures describe different stages of the accounting process and should not be read as proof that 31 people are trapped. Red Cross disaster officer Benson Ochieng said some people initially reported missing had since been located, including workers who had left the site before or after the collapse. The organization said two people had been reunited with their families, while its tracing teams continued contacting relatives to establish who was still unaccounted for.
The distinction matters because the building was both a construction site and a place where businesses were operating. Authorities said all 67 construction workers recorded at the site had been accounted for, with 66 escaping without injury and one sustaining injuries. Investigators and rescuers are therefore also trying to establish whether traders, customers or other people were inside the ground-floor and basement premises when the building came down.
The Kenya Red Cross has urged families searching for missing relatives to visit its tracing desk at the scene or call its toll-free number, 1199. The organisation is working with other emergency agencies as the search continues. The Ministry of Health has also established a 24-hour response desk near the site to coordinate medical support and assist affected families.
The rescue operation has been complicated by the scale of the debris and concerns about the safety of people who may still be alive underneath it. Authorities have said teams must remove material carefully to avoid shifting unstable sections of the building or making conditions worse for anyone trapped inside. Heavy machinery, emergency responders and technical personnel have been deployed, while police have urged the public to stay away from the immediate area so rescue teams can work without obstruction.
Alongside the search, the collapse has raised questions about how the building was approved and why parts of it were occupied before construction was completed. Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said a review of county records showed that an application for a proposed building of more than 15 floors with a basement had been submitted but was never approved. He also said the structure did not have an occupation certificate.
Those findings have put the building’s approval history and regulatory oversight at the centre of the investigation. Construction approval, inspections and permission to occupy a building are separate matters, and investigators will need to establish which documents were issued, what work was carried out and whether any breaches contributed to the collapse.
The National Construction Authority has identified the developer, contractor and professionals listed in its records for the project. Their identification does not, by itself, establish individual responsibility for the collapse. Authorities have said a wider investigation involving police, construction regulators, county inspectors and technical experts will examine the circumstances before conclusions are reached.
For families waiting near the scene, however, the immediate question is more urgent than the investigation: whether anyone else can be reached alive. The additional rescues have provided reasons to hope, but the reported missing-person cases are still being checked and there is no final, independently verified account of everyone who was inside or around the building when it collapsed.
As the operation continues, authorities face two parallel tasks: reaching anyone still trapped and giving the public a reliable account of the casualties. Until the missing reports are reconciled and officials issue a clear update, the number of people still unaccounted for remains uncertain.
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