Kenya: Eastleigh building collapse search nearly 80% complete; spots where life was detected may be out of reach, official says

The search at the collapsed building on 9th Street in Eastleigh, Nairobi, is nearly 80 per cent complete and could end on 28 or 29 October, National Disaster Management Director Duncan Onyango said on 28 October, The Star reported.

Acoustic life detectors have picked up signs of life in the rubble, Onyango said, but access to those spots may not be possible, given the type of collapse. Responders can reach the structure from one side only. Detecting someone alive does not guarantee a rescue if teams cannot reach the person quickly, he said, and the safety of responders is also a priority.

The Kenya Red Cross and a Chinese team provided the detection equipment. Xinhua reported on 28 October that the Chinese team, Blue Sky Rescue, arrived on 26 October with radar life detectors, seismic acoustic sensors and snake cameras, and detected two distinct life signals beneath concrete slabs and twisted metal. Anthony Muchiri, emergency operations manager of the Kenya Red Cross, said rescuers had narrowed their search to specific locations. The Kenya Red Cross said on the evening of 27 October that 20 people remained missing.

The Kenyan news site Kenyans.co.ke reported on 28 October that Chinese experts hired by the government located two people with special equipment on the evening of 27 October, and that rescuers had not reached them by the morning of 28 October. The devices were the Delsar LD3 acoustic life detector, the Jeet white-light thermal imaging Snake Eye and the SJ6000 radar detector. About 85 per cent of the rubble had been removed.

China's Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG) provided an excavator and a 25-tonne crane, Xinhua said. William Sifuna Watitwa, a staff officer for the Nairobi North sub-region, said the excavator "played an instrumental role" in rescuing two people trapped beneath the debris on 24 October.

The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (Nairobi Water) dealt with water that had collected in the basement. Recovery teams also entered several shops and retrieved items believed to belong to traders. The items are being registered and taken to the police station, and will be released to owners after identification.

The building collapsed on 23 October while still under construction. The Kenya Defence Forces said on 26 October that six survivors had been rescued.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has stepped up its investigation into the cause of the collapse, according to Kenyans.co.ke. Those questioned reportedly include several Nairobi County officers and one of the building's three owners, who recorded a statement. National Construction Authority (NCA) officers were expected to be questioned after the morning of 28 October, as investigators check whether approvals, inspections and safety procedures were followed.