Authorities identify owner, contractor of collapsed Mombasa Road building

NDMU Director Duncan Ochieng said the building is owned by Reportage Kenya, while Top Choice Surveillance is the contractor undertaking the construction.

Ochieng said authorities would ensure due process was followed as investigations got underway to establish the cause of the collapse.

The incident occurred early Friday morning at the construction site along Mombasa Road, near the SGR Syokimau Terminus, killing six workers and injuring five others who were rescued and rushed to Imara Zion Hospital for treatment.

The collapse happened at around 7am after a section of the rooftop slab gave way, trapping workers who were already at the site for the early morning shift.

Eyewitnesses described hearing a loud bang before parts of the building began falling.

Nicholas Nzioka said he was startled by the noise, initially unsure what had caused it.

“Ilikuwa saa moja asubuhi nilisikia tu sauti kubwa nikaashangaa kwani ni ndege ama ni nini,” he said.

Peter Muoki said he and others rushed to safety after hearing what sounded like thunder and noticing parts of the building collapsing.

“Tukasikia mlio kama thunder, sasa kuangalia juu ya hiyo nyumba na tulipoona mbao zinaanza kuanguka, tulikimbia,” he recounted.

Ochieng said more than 400 workers were at the construction site when the incident occurred, adding that all had been accounted for following the rescue operation.

He further said the building, which is designed to accommodate hotel apartments once completed, appeared structurally stable based on an initial assessment.

“We have all been to the top of this building and I can confirm that the building is stable structurally from a layman's point of view, but like I said, the experts will be there to ascertain the structural integrity of the building,” Ochieng said.

The six bodies were taken to Nairobi City Funeral Home for preservation, identification and postmortem examinations.

The Syokimau tragedy comes three weeks after another deadly building collapse in Eastleigh, Nairobi, where an under-construction multi-storey building came down along 9th Street on October 23, 2026, killing eight people.

Construction work at the Syokimau site has since been halted as authorities investigate the circumstances surrounding the latest incident.