Death toll rises to 9 in Kisii building tragedy

The death toll from the collapsed Kisii apartment building has now risen to nine after two more bodies were retrieved from the rubble Saturday morning.

The bodies were collected 2:00am and 8 am, over 48 hours after the ill-fated 13 storey building located along Darajamoja-Nyamataro bypass collapsed, instantly killing six people.

This comes just a day after 30 Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) rescuers were deployed to the scene with high end machinery used in the rescue mission.

According to the designated incident commander, Mwachi Pius Masai, only 9 families have reported missing persons. He, however, warns that the number is expected to rise.

Most of those who were admitted after the incident were discharged from Kisii Level 4 Hopsital on Saturday, while three others remain in critical condition.

The complex the rescue mission, which is now in its third day, has seen KDF request for more equipment from Nairobi to aid in the process.

“We are appealing to people with compressors, drillers and cutters to bring them for support,” urged Masai.

The National Disaster Management (NDMU) is collaborating stakeholders including National and County Government, National Police Service, Kenya Red cross, St. John Ambulance, KDF among others in the operations.