Two killed as building collapses in Gigiri

Two construction workers were yesterday killed in Gigiri estate, Nairobi when an office block under construction on riparian land collapsed. Three others were injured and rushed to hospital.

 The office block has been under construction since late last year, despite disapproval from neighbours who cited an environmental impact assessment report.

 A witness who sells food to the workers said a contractor, using an excavator had been digging on the side of the wall. “The driver of the excavator did not want to dig that particular area complaining that the top red soil was weak, but I heard the Muhindi foreman directing him to work or get out of the machine. He obliged half-heartedly but when he was through, three men who were working underneath started screaming as the loose soil had buried them alive," the witness said.

 “The foreman then directed the driver of the excavator to scoop the soil which had buried the three workers but hell broke lose when the excavator emerged with a human head,” she said.

 The other workers who were at the site then descended on the foreman with crude weapons, beating him senselessly, but police from Gigiri police station arrived at the site and rescued the unconscious foreman.

 The Star exclusively reported in January this year, a complaint by the residents association, who had accused the City Council of Nairobi and the National Environmental Management Authority of colluding with the developer to put up the commercial building in a residential area.

 The approval of the building was granted under the watch of then city planning town director Tom Odongo, who is now the town clerk. Contacted yesterday, Odongo said he could not comment until he gets a brief from his officers.