Two dead, including a child, after eight-storey building collapses in Kenya

Two people were killed when an eight-storey residential building collapsed in Nairobi, a Kenya police official said.

Thirty-eight others were rescued.

Nairobi police official Benson Kibue said one of the victims died on arrival at hospital and a child’s body was retrieved from the rubble in the lower-income Huruma area of the capital.

Kenya Red Cross official Nick Thiongo said dozens of the building’s residents could not be traced.

Nairobi County chief planner Tom Odongo said the upper floors were being built in quick succession, putting pressure on the lower floors.

Last month eight people died when a building collapsed in Kaloleni, another lower-income area of Nairobi.

Because of high demand for housing in Nairobi, some property developers often bypass building regulations to cut costs and maximise profits.