Update: Six More Bodies Recovered in Nairobi Building Collapse, Raising Toll to Eight
Kenya's Interior Ministry says the recovery work in Eastleigh is 95 percent done, with five people still unaccounted for two weeks after the building fell.
See where this is ›NAIROBI, Kenya —
Rescue teams pulled six more bodies from the collapsed building in the Eastleigh area of Nairobi, Kenya, on Thursday, Nov. 5, raising the confirmed death toll to eight, The Star reported Friday, citing a statement from Kenya's Interior Ministry.
Nairobi North County Commissioner Simon Asumba said the six victims recovered Thursday were four women and two men. Two women had been recovered earlier. Five people are still missing, and police say four people were rescued alive after the collapse.
See where this is ›The ministry said teams had “completed 95% of the recovery operation” and were still clearing the last of the debris. It said the work would go on to “account for every person reported missing.”
The Kenya Defence Forces, the National Disaster Management Unit, the National Disaster Operations Centre, the Nairobi City County Government and the Kenya Red Cross are taking part. The bodies are at the Nairobi City Mortuary, where post-mortem examinations and formal identification are under way. Families of the first two women have been informed, but the remains have not been released because DNA procedures are still pending.
The building, which Citizen Digital described as 18 stories tall and standing along Ninth Street in Eastleigh, fell on Oct. 23. Asumba asked families who have waited at the site for two weeks to stay patient while the teams finish.
What we don't know yet: The eight victims have not been publicly named. Authorities have not given a final account of why the building collapsed, and no end date for the operation has been announced.
