A pregnant woman is among those trapped after a building earmarked for demolition collapsed this morning in Kanduyi, an urban center in the outskirts of Bungoma town.
The woman, who is said to be still alive, was selling snacks to the people cutting out iron from sale from the pillars of the condemned building.
“She could be heard speaking to her husband through phone. Several people trapped in there are contacting their friends or relatives on phone,” a witness said.
One child, a boy of about 13 years, was among two or more rescued by police.
“One of his legs was severely smashed,” a witness told WKT, adding that another person, among two confirmed dead, was pulled out kf the rubble while alive but died on the way to hospital.
Dozens of people remain trapped beneath rubble in the two-storey building.
Police are advancing rescue operations and the exercise is expected to continue for the rest of the night.
There’s a tense atmosphere around the small town as police make patrols.
A police dog can be seen making rounds trying to help find paths to rescue those trapped.
Tens of town residents are still lined up along the road watching the excavator trying to dig through rubble and make way through the building.
Earlier today, police lobbed teargas canisters and fired rubber bullets to disperse a crowd surging around the scene and avert further risk from the building leaning dangerously along the road.
Former Bungoma Governor Wycliffe Wafula Wangamati, who owns the ill-fated building, visited the scene at around 1 p.m.
Wangamati addressed residents, calling out the County Government of Bungoma for negligence and defying court orders that barred the demolition of his property.
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