Eastleigh tragedy: 20 still missing as distraught families decry slow search

By  Kevin Cheruiyot

Correspondent

Twenty people remain missing following the Eastleigh building collapse, with the search and rescue operation entering its fourth day as families cling on to hope that their loved ones will be found alive.

Simon Osumba, the Nairobi North Sub-Region County Commissioner and head of the multi-agency rescue team, said the operation had been briefly suspended on Monday but resumed smoothly in the evening after the team addressed the challenges it had encountered.

“Since we started this operation, 52 families had reported their missing persons but 32 had been reunited with their families. We still have 20 people whom we are tracking using technology to confirm that they were indeed at the site when the incident happened,” Mr Osumba said.

He said some of the phone signals traced by the team led to the collapsed building, raising hopes that people could still be trapped beneath the rubble.

“We know that the affected families are starting to lose hope but we are continuing to talk to them through the Kenya Red Cross and the St John Ambulance team. We are providing them with the support they need,” he said.

Since the building collapsed on Friday, six people have been rescued alive, two of them pulled from the rubble two days after the incident.

At the scene along 9th Street Avenue, families, relatives and friends of the missing continued to camp as excavators cleared the debris, watching anxiously for any sign of their loved ones.

Some families directed their anger at the national and Nairobi County governments, accusing them of a slow response and inadequate equipment.

Judith Cherubet, the sister of Rosemary Chepkoech, who worked in one of the shops in the collapsed building, the wait has been agonising.

“We have been camping here since Saturday. We haven’t seen any progress here. Yes, the operation is ongoing, but we don’t know if we will recover our loved ones. We have been sitting and sleeping in these tents, crying and praying to see our loved ones alive,” Ms Cherubet said.

She said her sister, a tailor, had recently moved into the building which was still under construction to occupy one of the completed shops on the ground floor.

“We are appealing to our President to mobilise and deploy modern equipment that would move faster. We are urging Kenyans to stand with us and not to leave us in this situation alone,” she said.

Ms Cherubet travelled from Kitale, Trans Nzoia County, to Nairobi after learning of the collapse.

Rosemary’s husband Jairo Wanjala recalled speaking to his wife just minutes before noon on the day of the incident. They had been discussing their usual family arrangements.

“I had travelled to our home in Kitale on the eve of Friday, hoping to carry out my activities before returning home over the weekend. However, at around 8pm, my daughter called and informed me that she could not reach her mother on the phone. I tried several times and hoped that maybe the phone had gone off,” Mr Wanjala said.

When he learnt of the Eastleigh building collapse, he said he was shocked and immediately travelled back to Nairobi.

“I arrived here on Saturday and I have been camping here. It has been a hard time for me. Whenever I arrive home, my children ask me about their mother. I have been giving them hope that she will be back,” he said.

"It's a nightmare"

Nelson Shikomela, whose sister Joyce Naomi is believed to have been trapped in the collapsed building, said the wait has been a nightmare for the family.

He said Joyce, a businesswoman, had gone to the building to buy stock for her shop and had not been traced since the collapse. He also criticised the government over what he described as delays in clearing the rubble.

Ma Jiming, a representative of the Chinese Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG), said the company’s detection equipment had identified two people believed to be alive beneath the rubble, prompting rescuers to concentrate their efforts on the area.

Mr Jiming said the company’s team arrived at the scene on Monday evening to assist the operation using specialised equipment.

XCMG is a Chinese state-owned multinational manufacturer of heavy construction, engineering and mining equipment.

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