It has now been revealed that persons trapped inside the two-storey building near Membley estate in Ruiru, Kiambu County were “thieves”.
Kiambu County Commissioner Joshua Nkanatha revealed that the yet to be identified persons were looking for metals inside the half-demolished building to sell.
He revealed that the building had been collapsed by Kenya National Highways Authority (KENHA) in parts and was to be floored today but the trapped persons got there before the authority officers arrived.
“The building was to be fully brought down today but those inside here came looking for metals when the incident happened,” he said.
Speaking after he visited the scene whose rescue mission has since been taken over by Kenya Defence Force (KDF) officers, Nkanatha reiterated that the rescue exercise will be completed in a few hours.
“We cannot, at least for now tell the number of those trapped in here and we plead with members of the press to be patient. We will give all the details once and when we accurately gather them,” he said.
By the time of publishing this story, only one fully crashed body had been retrieved from the building that collapsed on Wednesday morning.
From a distance, members of the public can see another body whose sections are trapped while the rest are vividly outside the rumble.
