Twenty people remain unaccounted for following the collapse of a building under construction in Eastleigh, Nairobi, as police and the Kenya Red Cross use mobile phone signals to trace those still missing.
Nairobi North Regional County Commissioner Simon Osumba said 52 people were initially reported missing, but 32 have since been reunited with their families.
Rescue teams are concentrating on underground sections of the rubble where some of the missing are believed to have been working.
Osumba said responders were proceeding cautiously to avoid putting their lives at risk while searching the affected sections.
“We have been keenly monitoring so that we don't endanger the lives of our responders. We would want to urge members of the public once again to be patient with us so that we can be able to carry out our work effectively,” Onyango said.
The search has been complicated by inadequate information about some of the missing people, including incomplete names and missing telephone numbers.
"Remember that there are 11 casual workers who went away and we cannot ascertain where they are because they only gave one name; there were no telephone numbers," he added
Authorities are also working with a mobile service provider to track phone signals, although some devices are inactive or may have been left behind when workers fled.
The Kenya Red Cross has established a tracing desk to help families locate missing relatives as authorities verify reports and determine who may still be trapped beneath the rubble.
The development comes amid increased scrutiny of the approvals and enforcement procedures surrounding the Eastleigh building, which collapsed on October 23, 2026, while under construction.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has said the county approved a change of use for the property but did not approve subsequent plans for a 15-storey building with a basement.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions on Monday, October 26, directed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to investigate the incident.
The probe will examine the roles of county officials, the developer, contractors and other professionals involved in the building's planning, approval, supervision and construction.
The ODPP said it had not received an inquiry file from Nairobi City County on possible wrongdoing linked to the development, adding that criminal proceedings would follow if sufficient evidence is established.