PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Kenya: Death toll rises to 40 in Nairobi building collapse
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The death toll has risen to 40 from the collapsed building in Nairobi's Huruma estate, a day after four people were pulled out alive and taken to hospital where one of the four survivors later died, PANA reported on Friday.
The four survivors, included a pregnant woman, who later lost her pregnancy. The others were a man, his wife and another woman, were taken to the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Nairobi for medical attention.
"I am happy seeing my wife alive. It is truly a miracle," Stephen Onyango, husband of Elizabeth Onyango, the pregnant women who survived six days under the rubble of the collapsed building, told PANA at the hospital.
According to Onyango, who escaped from the building with bruises and lacerations on his hand, the building developed huge cracks around around 1700 GMT, raising alarm from tenants who were caught unaware by the sudden collapse shortly thereafter.
"I was having my evening meal when I heard commotion downstairs. I left the house to see what was going on. The building collapsed before I got to where the others were. I managed to rescue myself. I was lucky enough because my son was also rescued. However, the survival of my wife is a miracle from God," Onyango said.
Rescue workers immediately rushed Elizabeth to an operation theatre where her baby, who died in utero, was removed.
"The news is as good as what you already heard on television," Onyango told a relative on his telephone as he spoke to PANA, mobbed by jubilant family and friends and Kenyans waiting for attention at the KNH emergency medical services wing.
The Huruma Estate tragedy has partly slowed down work at the KNH emergency services wing, where one family member waiting to reach a doctor, complained of the long wait for services.
One of the survivors, brought to the hospital in a Nairobi County Government ambulance, whose feet was covered in a silver foil due to excessive cold from the collapsed building, died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
The death toll has risen to 40 but only a few bodies have been positively identified by families, according to the Police.
The government plans to begin the demolition of some buildings believed to face the risk of collapse after the Huruma Estate tragedy.
Meanwhile, search and rescue operations at the site of the collapsed building are continuing. On Friday, one week since the building collapsed, rescue workers removed a cock from the rubble. Earlier, the rescue workers managed to get a six-month-old baby from the rubble.
-0- PANA AO/MA 6May2016
The four survivors, included a pregnant woman, who later lost her pregnancy. The others were a man, his wife and another woman, were taken to the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Nairobi for medical attention.
"I am happy seeing my wife alive. It is truly a miracle," Stephen Onyango, husband of Elizabeth Onyango, the pregnant women who survived six days under the rubble of the collapsed building, told PANA at the hospital.
According to Onyango, who escaped from the building with bruises and lacerations on his hand, the building developed huge cracks around around 1700 GMT, raising alarm from tenants who were caught unaware by the sudden collapse shortly thereafter.
"I was having my evening meal when I heard commotion downstairs. I left the house to see what was going on. The building collapsed before I got to where the others were. I managed to rescue myself. I was lucky enough because my son was also rescued. However, the survival of my wife is a miracle from God," Onyango said.
Rescue workers immediately rushed Elizabeth to an operation theatre where her baby, who died in utero, was removed.
"The news is as good as what you already heard on television," Onyango told a relative on his telephone as he spoke to PANA, mobbed by jubilant family and friends and Kenyans waiting for attention at the KNH emergency medical services wing.
The Huruma Estate tragedy has partly slowed down work at the KNH emergency services wing, where one family member waiting to reach a doctor, complained of the long wait for services.
One of the survivors, brought to the hospital in a Nairobi County Government ambulance, whose feet was covered in a silver foil due to excessive cold from the collapsed building, died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
The death toll has risen to 40 but only a few bodies have been positively identified by families, according to the Police.
The government plans to begin the demolition of some buildings believed to face the risk of collapse after the Huruma Estate tragedy.
Meanwhile, search and rescue operations at the site of the collapsed building are continuing. On Friday, one week since the building collapsed, rescue workers removed a cock from the rubble. Earlier, the rescue workers managed to get a six-month-old baby from the rubble.
-0- PANA AO/MA 6May2016
