Five-storey building collapses in Kakamega

A five-storey building under construction collapsed Tuesday night in a residential estate in Kakamega town, damaging nearby homes.

Kakamega police boss, Joseph Chebii, said there were no injuries reported during the incident at Jua Kali estate.

NARROW ESCAPE

A frightened resident, whose house was damage, narrated how he narrowly escaped as the under construction building started caving in late Tuesday night.

“I had just arrived home at 9pm when I heard the watchman shouting, warning us to leave our houses because the building was coming down,” said Gerald Njoroge.

Njoroge said he quickly dashed to the door accompanied by his two brothers just in time before the building collapsed in a cloud of dust.

“We were so lucky. The debris flew in all directions and part of the wall came down on the front part of our house, just after we had dashed to safety,” said Mr Njoroge.

A relieved mother, Jane Wanjiku Muhura, said she was still at work when she was informed about the incident.

“I was so worried about my children in the house since we live right next to the building. I rushed home and found they had manage to escape to safety,” said Ms Muhura.

Police have cordoned off the scene with officials from the National Construction Authority, National Environment Management Authority and the Kakamega County set to investigate cause of the collapse.

“If we find that there was negligence on the part of the owner, we will charge him. We are so lucky that nobody was injured in the incident but we are investigating the matter,” said Chebii, the Kakamega Central police boss.