NAIROBI, Kenya- Victor Onyango was sewing in his basement tailor’s shop when the Eastleigh building began to collapse. Concrete and debris crashed into the room, throwing him into a corner and leaving him trapped beneath the rubble for nearly 24 hours.
The tailor said he slowly climbed over broken concrete as the structure settled around him.
He was trapped in different sections of the building and could hear other people nearby, including a woman in a shop.
Onyango found a fridge in the wreckage and managed to get soda and water.
He drank small amounts at a time and also poured some water over his head.
He encouraged the woman to look for water and keep drinking while they waited for help.
Survivors kept in touch
The woman, identified as Zainab Mohammed, was trapped in a small space between two fridges in her ground-floor shop.
She said she initially mistook the noise of the collapse for a fight before realising the building was coming down.
Onyango and Mohammed were able to speak to each other beneath the debris.
Their conversations helped them stay calm through the night.
“We talked until morning,” Onyango said.
He was rescued on Saturday morning, nearly a day after the collapse.
After reaching rescuers, he told them another woman remained trapped nearby. Mohammed was then found and brought out alive.
Both survivors were among four people rescued by Sunday. The collapse also left Onyango’s three tailoring machines buried beneath the rubble.
He showed bruises on his torso and arms after his rescue, but said he was grateful to have survived.
Search continues for missing people
The 18-storey building under construction collapsed on Friday, October 23, along a busy commercial street in Eastleigh.
Rescue operations continued over the weekend as families searched for relatives and teams cleared concrete and steel from the site.
By Sunday, the Kenya Red Cross had received reports of 47 people missing, although the number was not confirmed as a final count.
The Interior Ministry had earlier reported seven people trapped, reflecting the uncertainty over how many were inside the building when it came down.
The disaster has renewed questions about construction safety and enforcement in Nairobi.
County officials said the property had approval for a change of use but that architectural plans for construction had not been approved.
