Six people have died and many injured after a six-storey building collapsed in Kiambu, central Kenya.
Rescue efforts are under way and emergency workers have managed to pull a child from the rubble.
Several others have also been rescued but “sadly, some are feared to have succumbed to their injuries”, Kiambu county Governor Kimani Wamatangi said.
Building collapses in Kenya have in the past been blamed on poor structural design or sloppy construction.
The cause of this collapse is unclear but the building was under construction when it came down. It collapsed at 05:30 local time (02:30 GMT), before any builders had arrived to start work.
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Eyewitnesses said it fell onto adjacent homes, which is where most of the victims are thought to have been. It is not known how many people are still under the debris.
Soldiers, workers from the Kenya Red Cross and National Youth Service personnel as well as local volunteers are all at the scene in Kiambu town, which is about 20km (12 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi.
Excavators can be seen removing debris from the site.
Twisted metal, stones and cracked slabs of concrete are strewn all over. Personal belongings, home appliances and furniture have been moved out of a home that was buried by the rubble.
Curious onlookers have been watching in disbelief and wondering how another building collapse could have happened.
The child who was rescued is now being treated in hospital, national broadcaster KBC reports.
“What we’ve witnessed here is disastrous, it can’t be allowed to happen,” Governor Wamatangi told journalists after helping out with rescue efforts. He called on the police to help officials enforce building regulations.
SOURCE: BBCNEWS
