Seven children killed, scores hurt in Kenya school collapse
NAIROBI: Seven children died and scores were injured early Monday when a school building collapsed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, a government spokesman said, in an accident blamed on shoddy construction.
“So far we can confirm that we have seven fatalities and 57 others are in hospital,” government spokesman Cyrus Oguna said at the scene.
Hundreds of angry residents of Dagoretti, a poor suburb where many live in makeshift homes, swarmed around the site where rescuers picked through the rubble.
“Seven pupils dead, several injured after a classroom collapsed at (the Precious) Talent Academy in Dagoretti,” St John Ambulance, whose teams were deployed in search and rescue, wrote on Twitter.
“I had just dropped my son to school, and heard screams on my way back, and that is when I found people assisting them out to hospital,” said Margaret Muthoni at Kenyatta National Hospital, whose four-year-old son was injured.
“I am just lucky my son survived with injuries. It is a very unfortunate incident because some children have died.”
Kepha Otieno said he lost his five-year-old daughter to the tragedy.
“I just can’t believe. It is too hard for me and the family,” he said.
Evanson Kamuri, the chief executive of the Kenyatta National Hospital, told journalists that two of the injured children were in critical condition, while others had soft tissue injuries or light wounds and were being examined. — AFP