Nairobi's former Club Avenida building collapses during demolition, four injured
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Four people were injured, one critically, when the building that formerly housed Club Avenida on Moi Avenue in Nairobi's central business district collapsed during a nighttime demolition exercise.
The building that formerly housed Club Avenida on Moi Avenue in Nairobi's central business district collapsed during a nighttime demolition exercise on Saturday, injuring four people, one of them critically. The incident occurred near MKU Union Towers, opposite Mageso Chambers, where the Magereza DT Sacco headquarters are located, as workers demolished the structure to pave the way for a new development.
Preliminary reports indicate that supporting metal beams on the less stable side of the building were cut, triggering the collapse. The exact cause had not been established at the time of publication. Witnesses said about 25 people were inside the building when it came down, and by around 1:00 am all of them had reportedly been accounted for, although responders were still searching for a man believed to be trapped beneath the debris.
An official from the National Disaster Management Unit said the four injured victims were taken to hospital, with three in stable condition and one critical. Police officers and emergency responders launched rescue operations at the scene amid reports that people had been trapped in the rubble.
Nairobi City County Chief Officer for Citizen Engagement and Customer Service Geoffrey Mosiria, who visited the site, called for a thorough investigation. “I call upon our county engineers to conduct a thorough investigation into this specific demolition to establish the cause of the collapse, determine whether qualified experts were involved to guide the demolition, and verify whether all the necessary demolition approvals had been obtained,” he said.
Mosiria urged developers to comply with existing regulations and to consult county engineers during construction and demolition works in order to protect workers and members of the public. The collapse has renewed concerns over construction safety and regulatory oversight in the capital, following other reported building collapses in South C, Westlands, Shauri Moyo, Kibera and Gikomba Market.
Authorities had yet to establish the full extent of the damage or confirm whether anyone else remained trapped as rescue operations continued on Saturday morning.