By Hassan Wekesa - Editor
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Kenya, 24 October 2026 - The Federal Republic of Somalia’s Ambassador to Kenya, Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle, on Saturday commended the Kenyan government and rescuers for their swift response following the collapse of a building in Eastleigh.
“Somalia thanks the Kenyan government, the Nairobi City County government, the police and the rescue teams for the coordinated efforts,” he said during the Global Somali Entrepreneurship Forum (GSEF) 2026 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Nairobi.
On Friday, a multi-storey building collapsed along Yusuf Haji Avenue in Eastleigh.
The Kenya Red Cross said on Saturday evening that 66 of the 67 construction workers had been accounted for. It added that rescuers had pulled a man from the rubble, and that he was receiving care at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
“After hours of painstaking work alongside multi-agency partners, our search and rescue teams in Eastleigh brought a trapped man out of the rubble,” the agency stated.
Rescue efforts are still ongoing, amid fears that some women who were doing business near the building remain unaccounted for.
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Some observers have described the collapse as a pancake-type failure, in which the floors stacked onto one another. It has raised immediate concerns about the quality of the structure, the metals used and the materials employed in its construction.
Speaking from the scene on Friday, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said the building had proper documentation, but confirmed that the owner was still being sought. He emphasised that the priority remained the search for anyone who may have been trapped.
Somali envoy Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle praises Kenya’s coordinated rescue response as search for missing persons continues in Eastleigh.