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The man, only identified as Victor, is further said to have given his sister’s mobile phone number as he was being taken to Thika Level 5 Hospital for treatment.
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Wanjiku said the man was saved after rescuers heard him calling for help from under the rubble.
Image: Alice Waithera
One person has been rescued from the four-storey building that collapsed in Murang'a on Friday.
Five bodies were retrieved earlier and a sixth person rescued alive, but died while undergoing treatment.
Rescuers working at the site said the man who has been rushed to a health facility for treatment could speak and had told them that two others were still trapped under the rubble alive.
According to the county disaster manager Bilha Wanjiku, the rescued man could communicate and said one of his hands was in a lot of pain.
The man, only identified as Victor, is further said to have given his sister’s mobile phone number as he was being taken to Thika Level 5 Hospital for treatment.
Wanjiku said the man was saved after rescuers heard him calling for help from under the rubble.
“He must have heard the rescuers removing the rubble on top of him when he cried for help and they were able to get to him,” she said.
County Commissioner Fred Ndunga said the multi-agency rescue team is still working to rescue the two construction workers that are yet to be found.
The building that was under construction collapsed at 2pm on Friday, trapping eight workers who were working on the top most floor.
The construction site had 58 workers but only the eight were missing.
One of the bodies retrieved was of a person who was at the hotel during the collapse, but not a worker.
Ndunga further noted that security agencies are looking for the owners of the hotel and the contractor who was working on the building.
"We are tracking down the owners who we understand are three directors. Government officers who were to manage this site will also be held accountable," Ndunga said.
Once arrested, the suspects will be charged with professional negligence, he noted.
Gatanga MP Nduati Ngugi noted that there was evidence of poor workmanship at the site.
"The way the slabs fell on each other in layers shows that the materials used were of low quality," he said.
Nduati, who is an engineer, underscored the need for those planning to construct building to engage professional architects and structural engineers to ensure the building is done the right way .
Image: Alice Waithera
A structural engineer is able to interpret the plans done by an architect and can tell the materials required for the building.
"It is wrong to do such a thing without using a structural engineer who should say the size of steel metals to be used and the width of the slab," Nduati said, adding that many contractors engage cheap engineers with little experience to construct big buildings.
"It is clear that the grade of concrete used is also too low. It is wrong to use so much money and watch it go to waste. If the right people had been engaged, no life would have been lost," he added.
Governor Mwangi wa Iria placed the blame squarely on the National Construction Authority, wondering why its officers had not inspected the building.
NCA, he said should also have had a list of all construction workers working at the site.
Wa Iria said all buildings constructed in the County will now be required to submit an inspection report to the Infrastructure department to allow its officers to conduct their own inspection.
Transport CS James Macharia had six people have so far lost their lives in the incident.
Five, he said, were already dead when they were found while one was among the six rescued by witnesses when the building collapsed on Friday and lost his life while undergoing treatment.
Macharia noted that 75 percent of the rubble had been removed and that the rescue operation is expected to be concluded by the end of the day.
“The professionals who were involved in the project including the engineers, architects, county government officers and NCA officers will however have to explain what happened,” he said.
He observed that the building appeared to have been constructed in a rush and the concrete was not given enough time to dry up, adding that the objective of the developer was to complete it as fast as possible.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has now been instructed to get all involved in the project, saying the incident is a clear case of negligence.
Macharia further confirmed that the National Buildings Inspectorate is in the process of auditing all on-going buildings to determine if they are safe and that those found to be unsafe will be demolished.
Edited by CM