Occupants of a five-storey building in Nairobi had the police and a keen tenant to thank after escaping an averted tragedy. Police from Buruburu Police Station had on the previous night forcefully evacuated occupants from the five-storey building that came down hours later.
The police sealed the building and camped outside the building in Kariobangi South to prevent the caretaker and tenants returning. On Tuesday morning the building collapsed.
“A resident alerted the police at around 3pm on Monday that the building had cracks which were expanding,” Nairobi County Police Commander Japhet Koome said.
Koome said immediately after receiving the signal, officers were sent to the site and, under the leadership of OCPD Geoffrey Maiyek, they succeeded in evacuating all the occupants.
“The building had been completed just a few weeks ago and so just a few units had been occupied,” Koome said.
Residents said although they lost their property, they were happy nobody had been injured or killed.
A resident said cracks stated appearing on the building about a month ago when the owner of a neighbouring piece of piece of land started digging a foundation for another apartment.
But the owner of the collapsed apartment covered up the cracks with plaster before tenants moved in.
