At least three people were killed when a building collapsed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, authorities said Wednesday.
Six other people were rescued from the rubble and are being treated at a hospital in the suburb of Kasarani, where the multi-storey building is located.
The residential building was under construction and had shown signs of weakness, including visible cracks before collapsing, witnesses told local media.
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Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said on Wednesday that the owner of the building should be arrested and charged with murder because the required building permits had not been issued.
Kenya Defense Forces disaster response unit personnel survey the scene of a building collapse in the Kasarani slum of Nairobi, Kenya, on November 15, 2022.
(AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Local media reported that the owner is on the run.
Government officials inspected the construction site and asked the workers to leave early Tuesday, a construction worker told the local Daily Nation newspaper. But the site foreman told the workers to continue, the newspaper reported.
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Building collapses are common in Nairobi, where housing is in high demand and unscrupulous developers often skirt regulations.
After eight buildings collapsed killing 15 people in Kenya in 2015, the presidency ordered an audit of all buildings in the country to see if they were up to code. The National Building Authority found that 58% of the buildings in Nairobi were unfit to live in.