Nairobi building collapse: Two children rescued

The rescued children are now being treated in a city hospital

Two children have been rescued from the rubble of a collapsed seven-storey building in Kenya's capital Nairobi, nearly 24 hours after the incident. Rescue officials say a boy and a girl are now being treated in a hospital. 

A woman who was also pulled alive from the wreckage in the eastern Kware Pipeline Ebakasi area later died.

Kenya Red Cross says another person was killed after the building collapsed on Monday night. Several more people have been reported missing. A search and rescue operation is continuing.

The Star newspaper said dozens of people had been evacuated moments before the collapse.

Witnesses told the paper that the building had been condemned after cracks appeared in its walls.

The co-ordinator of the rescue efforts, Pius Masai, said that 128 tenants had been accounted for by midday on Tuesday. 

Earlier reports said that 15 people were missing, but this figure has not been confirmed.

Rescue workers are searching the rubble for survivors

The National Disaster Management Unit said that most families acted when ordered to leave the building prior to its collapse.

Local media reports that some people re-entered the building apparently to collect their belongings when it caved in, possibly trapping them. 

Building collapses are a problem in Kenya with many people in Nairobi living in low-income areas or slums. Housing is in high demand, and developers often bypass regulations. 

In April 2017, 49 people died after a building collapsed in heavy rain in Nairobi. 

At the height of Kenya's rainy season in April 2016, a six-storey building collapsed killing 52 people in Nairobi's Huruma district.

 BBC