Families await DNA results as 15-day Eastleigh recovery mission comes to an end

The fate of three people remains unknown following the closure of a 15-day search operation at the collapsed Eastleigh building, where rescue teams recovered eight bodies and pulled four survivors from the rubble.

Nairobi North County Commissioner Simon Osumba announced that the operation had reached its final stage after multi-agency teams exhausted searches of all accessible basement compartments of the 18-storey structure, with no further bodies retrieved during the last day.

The decision marks the end of an extensive recovery exercise involving security agencies, government departments, humanitarian organisations and volunteers who had been working to account for everyone believed to have been caught in the collapse.

“Today we are calling off the exercise after having managed to reach all the basements of the building which collapsed,” Osumba said.

Of the eight bodies recovered, six were female and two were male. The remains have been taken to the mortuary, where they are being preserved as authorities await DNA samples from relatives to establish the identities of the deceased.

Some of the bodies were decomposed, making DNA analysis necessary before they can be positively identified and handed over to their families for burial.

As families prepare for the next stage, Nairobi City County, through Governor Johnson Sakaja, has pledged to provide assistance covering identification and burial arrangements.

Osumba said the county would facilitate DNA testing, meet mortuary expenses and organise transport for families making burial arrangements. The government will also settle the mortuary bills, even though the charges had already been waived.

The Kenya Red Cross has established a support tent at the mortuary to help relatives during the identification process and provide assistance as they make arrangements following the tragedy.

Meanwhile, the three people who have not been traced will now be handled separately from the completed rescue exercise. The National Police Service is expected to assume responsibility for the missing-person cases and continue working with the affected families to establish their whereabouts.

Authorities disclosed that 11 people were initially reported missing after the building came down. Despite recovering eight bodies and rescuing four people alive, three individuals have not been accounted for.

To address concerns from families about the possibility of victims remaining beneath the debris, Osumba said relatives had been taken around the site to see the sections that rescue teams had examined.

The visits were intended to demonstrate that all accessible areas had been covered, including the basement compartments where teams had concentrated much of their recovery work.

The operation involved the Kenya Defence Forces, National Youth Service, National Disaster Management Unit, National Disaster Operations Centre, Nairobi City County Government and Kenya Red Cross, alongside other responding agencies and volunteers.

Osumba said the exercise was particularly difficult because of the scale of the collapsed structure, the restricted space available to rescue personnel and the need to protect people living and working in neighbouring properties.

He described the operation as unusual, explaining that working around the remains of an 18-storey building presented considerable challenges for teams trying to reach trapped victims without exposing themselves or surrounding communities to further danger.

With the recovery mission officially concluded, the county government is expected to begin addressing disruptions caused by the collapse, including restrictions on roads and business activities in the surrounding neighbourhood.

Plans are underway to reopen streets that were partially blocked during the operation to enable motorists to resume movement and traders to reopen their businesses.

However, the collapsed property will remain sealed off, with the National Police Service maintaining a security cordon to keep members of the public away from the hazardous site.

Osumba warned residents, traders and curious members of the public against approaching the area, noting that exposed steel, unstable debris and other dangerous materials remain at the scene.

He further urged authorities to conduct fresh structural inspections of buildings surrounding the collapsed property to determine whether they had been affected and establish the safety measures required to protect occupants.

Although the physical search has ended, the county government and humanitarian agencies will continue engaging affected families as the process of identifying the deceased and arranging burials gets underway. Police will also pursue the three outstanding missing-person cases.