Seven missing after multi-storey building collapses in Kenya's capital

Notably, a search and rescue effort is under way to find seven individuals feared trapped under rubble after a building collapsed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Key points

• Nairobi Governor Sakaja Johnson informed local media that the owners of the building did not have the required paperwork for the building to be occupied.
• The incident has raised fresh reservations concerning construction standards and regulations in Kenya.
• The block was under construction when it collapsed on Friday afternoon, with footage showing scaffolding still wrapped around the outside of the building.
• Building collapses are not uncommon in Nairobi, with poor construction or improper planning often cited as contributing factors.
• Dozens of builders had been working on the upper floors when it collapsed, but managed to emerge largely unscathed.

Dramatic footage demonstrates the bottom floor of the block, thought to have been 16 or 18 storeys, giving way before the rest of the building crumples, sending a plume of dust into the surrounding streets.

Dozens of builders had been working on the upper floors when it collapsed, but managed to emerge largely unscathed. Those missing were thought to have been in shops that had opened at the base of the building.

For context, the incident has raised fresh reservations concerning construction standards and regulations in Kenya.

For context, the block was under construction when it collapsed on Friday afternoon, with footage showing scaffolding still wrapped around the outside of the building. Authorities stated 11 shops had already opened on the bottom floors.

While the other had suffered injuries that were not life-threatening, interior ministry official Kipchumba Murkomen remarked 66 of the 67 construction workers in the building at the time had been able to secure out unharmed.

As rescue workers saw through metal to obtain to those believed to have been stuck underneath, images from the scene, in Nairobi's Eastleigh area, show the concrete floors of the building piled on top of one another.

Rescue efforts have been complicated by reservations that excavation using diggers could limit the supply of air to those trapped, prompting emergency responders to cease using them, according to the Daily Nation newspaper.

Questions have emerged regarding why the building suddenly collapsed and whether it met planning regulations.

As well as the architect and structural engineer, but did not say whether the site had been inspected before Friday, kenya's National Construction Authority remarked in an official note that it had identified the business behind the development.

He pressed the national administration to offer local authorities greater powers to penalise "developers who disregard approved building plans and safety standards".

For now, seven missing after multi-storey building collapses in Kenya' s capital remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.