Sunday, June 10, 2012

3 bodies retrieved, 9 missing in Mlolongo building tragedy


3 bodies retrieved, 9 missing in Mlolongo building tragedy

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By PETER OBUYA
Posted  Sunday, June 10  2012 at  13:41
Three more bodies were on Sunday recovered and eight others were rescued from the rubbles of a collapsed building in Mlolongo, Mavoko.
One person was confirmed dead on Saturday evening when the tragedy occurred as the four-storey building that was still under construction collapsed trapping several people who were going about their business on the ground and first floors that were already complete.
According to Kenya Red Cross, nine people are still missing and operations are underway to rescue them.
The rescue team that was headed by the Kenya Army used a special binoculars to detect any bodies trapped under the debris following fears that more people could have been trapped after it was reported that some victims could be heard crying for help from under the debris.
Police cordoned off the area as hundreds of curious onlookers, among them desperate relatives and friends of the victims milled around to get information on the latest developments.
However, area MP Wavinya Ndeti blamed the Municipal Council of Mavoko for the tragedy saying it erred by allowing dubious contractors the permission to put up the structure.
“It is pretty obvious that this was a dubious contractor and the Municipality of Mavoko is to blame. They ought to thoroughly peruse papers of contractors before giving them the green light to construct,” she said at the site of the tragedy.
The ill-fated building that caved-in was being built without a fourth wall as the contactor hoped to benefit from that of an adjacent building to provide the crucial pillar.
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But Mavoko Mayor Johnson Makau defended the Council saying it was not their duty to follow up Contractors once they approve them.
“The Council has done no wrong because we do not follow up the Contractors. Once we peruse their documents and find them qualified, we can only imagine they are going to follow the requirements,” he said.
The collapsed building was already operational on the ground and first floors and several people who were trapped are said to have been working at a Supermarket, a motorcycle spare shop and a hotel.
Cases of buildings collapsing in Nairobi and its environs have since been on the increase and only last Friday evening, Red Cross reported that 10 people were injured when a building under construction off Mombasa Road caved-in.

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