Nairobi Eastleigh Building Collapse: Latest Figures

Quick answer

A multi-story building under construction collapsed in Eastleigh, Nairobi, at about 1 p.m. local time on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. Kenya's interior minister said seven people were reported missing on Friday evening. No death toll is confirmed and the cause has not been established.

In this article (6)

What happened
Latest figures, and why they differ
The rescue operation
What officials say about approvals and the investigation
What happens next
Sources

A multi-story building under construction collapsed in Eastleigh, a busy commercial district of Nairobi, Kenya, at about 1 p.m. local time (10:00 GMT) on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, according to Al Jazeera. Rescuers were still searching the rubble on Saturday. Officials have not confirmed a death toll, and the number of people still missing differs between official updates.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said on Friday evening that seven people were reported missing, according to The Star.

What happened

The Associated Press described a “huge mound of concrete and more than a dozen floors stacked like pancakes, with little space between them.” Nairobi police chief Issa Mohamud said the building had more than 10 upper floors under construction, according to AP. Outlets give different heights: Africanews called it a 16-storey building, while The Star described an 18-storey one.

The basement and ground floor had been rented to an electronics shop, a butchery and a grocery, according to AP. Mohamud also warned of a possible secondary collapse because the building was leaning on its neighbor, AP reported.

Latest figures, and why they differ

Workers: Murkomen said 67 construction workers were at the site. All were accounted for: 66 escaped uninjured and one was injured and in stable condition in hospital (Friday evening update, as reported by The Star).
Missing, government figure: Murkomen said seven people were reported missing. The Star quoted him as saying the team “had made contact with some of the seven people reported missing, as efforts continued to rescue those trapped in the rubble.”
Shops: Al Jazeera reported that Murkomen told reporters about 11 people in the shops were yet to be accounted for. In his evening update he said 11 shops on the ground floor and in the basement were occupied, according to The Star.
Missing, Kenya Red Cross: The Red Cross said 26 people previously reported missing had been traced and accounted for, according to Kenyans.co.ke, which noted the update did not say whether it referred to the seven people in Murkomen’s statement.
Rescued and injured: Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja confirmed that one person had been rescued from the rubble, The Star reported. AP reported that an injured woman was rescued and hospitalized. The Kenya Red Cross said two injured people were taken to Kenyatta National Hospital, according to Al Jazeera. The reports do not say whether these overlap.
Deaths: No confirmed death toll appears in the sources reviewed. Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said it was possible “one or two” people had died and that more would be known as time went on, according to Al Jazeera. That was a statement of possibility, not a confirmed count.

A missing-person report is not the same as a confirmed trapped person. Families report relatives while the situation is chaotic, and the Red Cross said it was verifying the reports.

The rescue operation

The response involved the Kenya Defense Forces, National Police Service, Nairobi City County Government, National Youth Service and Kenya Red Cross, with heavy machinery deployed to remove rubble, according to News of Bahrain. Heavy equipment was slow to arrive at first, AP reported.

Kenyans.co.ke reported that debris removal was suspended at about 6 p.m. Friday after trapped people reportedly warned that the work was affecting their oxygen supply, and that operations resumed at 6:45 p.m. after consultations. Sakaja said rescuers had heard people communicating from inside and were clearing debris to let oxygen reach them, according to Kenyans.co.ke.

Murkomen urged anyone whose relatives are missing to report to the Kenya Red Cross through its emergency number, 1199, according to The Star.

What officials say about approvals and the investigation

Sakaja said the building had been approved for construction but had no certificate of occupation, so opening shops on the ground floor was against the law, according to AP. “This has potentially cost lives,” he told reporters, Al Jazeera reported. An occupation certificate confirms that a building has met the requirements to be legally occupied, News of Bahrain explained, adding that authorities have not established that this issue caused the collapse.

The National Construction Authority said the project was registered on July 30, 2025, and that it had identified the registered developer and contractor, according to Kenyans.co.ke. Police launched a manhunt for the owner, Al Jazeera reported, and at the time Kenyans.co.ke published, the owner had not presented himself to police. “Investigations will be carried out,” Mohamud said, according to AP.

The cause has not been established. News of Bahrain wrote that the full casualty toll and the cause “had not been established in the latest reports.” Murkomen said the cause would be investigated by national and county agencies together with professional bodies, according to The Star. One worker, Alexander Mugure, told The Star that workers noticed a section of the building had developed a crack before it came down. That is a worker’s account, not an official finding.

The collapse has renewed questions about enforcement. AP noted that building collapses are a recurring problem in Nairobi and that county officials who issue permits have been accused of failing to carry out adequate inspections. AFP reported that Kenya’s National Building Inspectorate found that 87 percent of buildings audited nationwide last year failed to meet standards or lacked approvals, according to Al Jazeera.

What happens next

Al Jazeera’s correspondent said rescue efforts were expected to continue through Friday night and Saturday. No date for the investigation’s findings has been announced in the sources reviewed.