Kenyan authorities have officially called off the search and rescue operation at the buckled 18-storey building along 9th Street in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area.
Speaking on Friday, November 6, 2026, the search operations commander, William Sifuna, said the multi-agency team had called off the exercise after accounting for the people they had been searching for at the site.
According to the Kenya Red Cross, eight bodies were recovered from the rubble, while four people were pulled out alive. Three people were still reported missing, with police continuing investigations to establish their whereabouts and determine whether they were trapped beneath the rubble.
“So right now we don’t have any other expected recovery because each and every life that we are looking for, we found the bodies and we found those who are living,” Sifuna said.
The building collapsed on October 23, 2026, triggering a major rescue operation involving several government agencies, including the Kenya Defence Forces, the National Disaster Management Unit, Nairobi City County Government and the Kenya Red Cross
The building, which appeared to be in the advanced stages of construction, began giving way from the base before collapsing almost vertically onto itself.
The supporting columns at the bottom appeared to give way, causing the floors above to come crashing down in quick succession.
Rather than toppling sideways, the towering structure folded downwards, leaving behind a huge pile of concrete debris and thick dust that spread across the surrounding area.
The sudden collapse triggered panic among neighbours, whose screams can be heard as they watched the building come down.
The impact also caused severe structural damage to an adjacent building, with sections of its walls caving in.
MG/as/APA