4 rescued on third day after Kenya building collapse as families lose hope

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The number of people rescued from a collapsed building in Kenya's capital has risen to four, while several others remain missing and are reported to have communicated with loved ones from beneath the rubble.

Rescue operations entered a third night Sunday as relatives said they were losing hope of finding those trapped alive.

The 18-story building collapsed Friday in a busy commercial street of the capital Nairobi, trapping construction workers and people reportedly inside shops on the ground and basement floors that had been illegally occupied.

Rescuers searched through the concrete and steel debris throughout Sunday and pulled two more people alive from the rubble, bringing the number of survivors rescued to four.

One of those rescued Saturday was tailor Victor Onyango, who said he remained hopeful and spoke with Zaynaba Mohammed, a shop owner who was also trapped overnight Friday.

“On Saturday morning, I saw some light coming through the rubble, and I knew those were rescuers,” Onyango told journalists Sunday. “When they pulled me out, I told them there was a woman behind the next rubble, and she was rescued after me.”

Both Onyango and Mohammed were treated at a hospital and discharged.

Families waited throughout Sunday for news about their loved ones. The interior minister had on Friday said seven people were reported to be inside the rubble but the Kenya Red Cross on Sunday said the missing persons reports had risen to 47.

Peter Barasa, a relative of one of those trapped, told journalists he was losing hope of finding his loved one alive.

“This would be the third day without food and water for him,” Barasa said.

The Nairobi County Gov. Johnson Sakaja called for stricter enforcement against building regulations’ flouters, calling the current fines a “slap in the wrist” for developers who are risking lives.

The owner of the collapsed building is deceased, and his family was in a joint ownership agreement with another party. It remains unclear if anyone has been arrested despite authorities saying the building had not been approved for construction and did not have a certificate of occupancy to allow for the renting of shops in the basement and ground floors.