More than ten days after an 18-storey building under construction collapsed on Ninth Street in Eastleigh, Nairobi, rescue teams are working through the last portion of the rubble where 11 people are still believed to be trapped, as anger grows over how long the operation has taken.

Citizen Digital reported that crews were focusing on the remaining 10 per cent of the debris, with two more excavators brought in to make three in total. Plant operators from the Kenya Defence Forces and the National Youth Service are working the site, and the search was expected to wind up within about 24 hours.

Missing list shrinks

The number of people listed as missing has fallen as verification continued. The Kenya Red Cross confirmed that four people earlier reported missing had been reunited with their families, bringing the number believed trapped down to 11 from the 16 cited earlier in the week.

Six people have been pulled out alive since the October 23 collapse. One body, that of a woman, was recovered on October 30 and is to be identified through DNA tests. Detectives are also tracing the phone of a missing woman that became reachable on Saturday.

Eleven families are camping at the site waiting for news. "We just want to know," relatives told the Eastleigh Voice, describing the anguish of waiting day after day.

MP wants Parliament to step in

Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan said on Sunday that hopes of finding more survivors were fading and that he would move a motion seeking a parliamentary inquiry into the national disaster management response once the House resumes sittings.

"We cannot spend nine or ten days at one building. That is too long," Hassan said, questioning whether the disaster management department had enough personnel, heavy equipment and legal backing. He wants the agencies involved summoned to explain their handling of the rescue.

He also asked Nairobi County to clear debris and reopen First Avenue, Second Avenue and Ninth Street, whose closure has hurt traders and transporters.

Businesses counting losses

Traders around the site say the closures have cut footfall sharply. Businessman Muhidin Abdi told Citizen Digital that shops may have to close if the situation continues.

Separately, detectives are investigating the collapse on the directions of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and have questioned one of the developers as well as officials from Nairobi County, the National Building Inspectorate and the National Construction Authority.

Photos: AFP via Citizen Digital; Abdirahman Khalif/The Eastleigh Voice. Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.