Nairobi, October 23: A multi-storey building under construction collapsed on Friday in the Eastleigh neighbourhood of Kenya's capital Nairobi, and rescuers rushed to the scene amid reports that people were trapped beneath the rubble. The Nairobi County governor's office said the ground floor of the collapsed building was occupied, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters

The Kenya Red Cross Society said two injured people had been rescued and taken to Kenyatta National Hospital for treatment. It also said 26 people who had earlier been reported missing had been traced and accounted for, and a tracing desk was set up at the site for families, with the Red Cross toll-free line 1199 shared for information.

Source: The Eastleigh Voice

Earlier, a woman was pulled alive from the rubble and was responding to treatment, the Associated Press reported, citing Nairobi regional police commander Issa Mohamud. Mohamud said the search was complicated by concern for another person who had been heard crying for help beneath the debris, whose cries later went silent.

Source: Capital FM (AP)

Personnel from the Kenya Defence Forces, the General Service Unit, regular police, the National Youth Service, the Kenya Red Cross and Nairobi City County teams were deployed to the scene, with excavators and sniffer dogs brought in to clear debris and locate people trapped inside. The operation continued into Friday night.

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said the building had received county approval but did not have an occupation certificate, the document required before a building can be occupied, according to local reports. Nairobi police said the cause of the collapse had not been established and that a multi-agency team would investigate.

Reports differed on the building's height: Reuters described a 12-storey structure, while some Kenyan outlets reported more floors. No confirmed death toll had been announced by Friday night, and officials said the number of people still trapped remained unclear as the search continued.