KISUMU, Kenya, Sep 30 – Rescue workers searching through the rubble of an incomplete 4-storey building which collapsed in Kisumu’s Mamboleo area on Tuesday night concluded the search on Wednesday afternoon after pulling out a missing mason.
The survivor was pulled out as a team comprising of the Red Cross and National Youth Service (NYS) worked to removed debris at the site.
Red Cross first responders supplied the survivor with oxygen as the NYS team worked to safely evacuate him.
Kisumu County Commissioner Josephine Ouko confirmed that contrary to initial reports which suggested three persons had been trapped in the building, it had since emerged only four masons were in the building when it collapsed.
Three persons escaped with varying injuries when the incident occurred on Tuesday night but leaving the fourth known occupant unaccounted for prompting the search and rescue operation.
Kisumu County Police Commander Ransom Lolmondoni said four mansions were residing on the first floor of the ill-fated building.
The building that is still under construction when it came crumbling down at 10pm on Tuesday.
Lolmondoni said the three persons rescued from the building on Tuesday were treated at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital and discharged.
“The three are here with us at the scene, they want see their colleagues rescued,” he told reporters.
He said it was not clear yet what caused the collapse but indicated the police service was working with National Construction Authority personnel to expedite investigations into the incident.
This article has been updated to correct an earlier account on the number of persons believed to have been trapped in the collapsed building.
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