Kisii County team finds body of woman missing since building collapsed
A police officer and other rescuers carry a man who was pulled from the rubble after a building collapsed in Kisii town on October 11, 2017. A woman who was working at the building site is still missing. PHOTO | BENSON MOMANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- A woman who was working at the site of the collapsed building has been missing for week. Her body was found on Thursday.
- The disaster management team said there is no other body in the rubble.
One more body was recovered on Thursday from the rubble of the four-storey building that collapsed at Mwembe area, Kisii County.
This brings the death toll to seven. Eighteen other people were injured.
RETRIEVED
The body was retrieved by the Kisii County Disaster Management team, which conducted a fresh search after the family of Ms Leah Kwamboka raised concern that she was missing since the building collapsed on Wednesday last week.
Ms Kwamboka had worked at the site.
Mr Julius Tinega, the Kisii County Disaster Management boss, said that the body had been trapped in the debris.
He ruled out any possibility of another body at the site, saying that only one family had complained about a missing relative.
“We ended the searching mission last week but we were forced to start afresh after one family came forward and raised concern over missing one of their own,” said Mr Tinega.
MISSING
Mr Nahashon Mageto the younger brother of the deceased said that they were forced to ask for a fresh search after Ms Kwamboka went missing for days.
He said that some of the workers who survived the incident told them that his sister was in the building at the time it collapsed.
“The police even tracked her phone and found it around the site. This made us believe that my sister was still covered by the rubble,” said Mr Mageto.
"We searched for her at the various hospitals where the victims were taken and at the mortuary but could not get her. That is why we requested a fresh search."
He said the family is relieved to have found the body despite the loss.
Ms Kwamboka was a single mother of five.
SURVIVORS
On Thursday, seven survivors were still nursing injuries at various hospitals in Kisii County.
Police also said that they were yet to arrest the owner of the building who, they said, was on the run.
“We are asking the owner of the building who has gone into hiding to surrender himself to the authorities,” said Mr Godfrey Kigochi, the Kisii County Commissioner.
Last week, the National Construction Authority (NCA) said that the owner of the building, who is an accountant at a local hospital, had ignored a notice to stop work on the site.
