Update: First Body Recovered From Nairobi Building Collapse; 16 Still Missing
Kenya's chief prosecutor has ordered a criminal inquiry into the Eastleigh collapse, as a government report says 57 percent of the buildings it assessed were at risk of falling.
See where this is ›NAIROBI, Kenya —
Rescuers on Friday, Oct. 30, recovered the first body from the rubble of a building that collapsed a week earlier on 9th Street in the Eastleigh area of Nairobi, Kenya, The Associated Press and The Star reported. The body was that of a woman. Sixteen people are still missing.
See where this is ›The building was under construction when it fell at about 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, Citizen Digital reported. The AP described it as 18 stories tall. Crews have cleared about 85 percent of the debris and are trying to reach the basement, where some of the missing are thought to be, according to The Star.
Nairobi North County Commissioner Simon Osumba said the count of 16 came after a verification exercise by the Kenya Red Cross and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. Phone data place nine of the missing at the building shortly before it fell. Authorities are still seeking information on four other cases, and three families have not yet given phone numbers to help trace their relatives.
National Disaster Management Unit Director Dr. Duncan Ochieng said teams were working to reach places where specialized equipment had detected possible signs of life. The AP reported that no survivors have been pulled out since last Saturday, and that families who have camped at the site for a week are losing hope.
Kenya's Director of Public Prosecutions has directed the criminal investigators to look into possible negligence, omissions or misconduct by public officials, developers and construction professionals, The Star reported. The prosecutor's office said it would prosecute anyone found criminally culpable where the evidence is sufficient, regardless of position or status. Detectives have questioned one of the developers and officials from Nairobi County, the National Building Inspectorate and the National Construction Authority.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said the building lacked required construction approvals, and that renting out finished shops on the ground and basement floors was illegal without an inspection and an occupation certificate, the AP reported. A related headline in the Daily Nation said the developer maintains the building had all necessary approvals.
The collapse comes as a report by the State Department for Public Works, tabled in Parliament, found that 12,018 of 21,282 buildings assessed from July 1, 2025, to April 2, 2026, or 57 percent, were non-compliant and at risk of collapse, the Daily Nation reported. It said Kenya has had 100 building collapses since 1996, with eight in 2026, the most of any year so far.
What we don't know yet: The woman has not been publicly identified. Reports differ on how many people were rescued alive: the AP says four and The Star says six. People Daily's headline put the number missing at 15, while the AP and The Star say 16. Officials have not said when the search will end.
