Six people have died after a building under construction collapsed near Kenya's capital, Nairobi, on Friday, 13 November 2026, local media outlet Citizen TV reported, in a report carried by Reuters.

The eight-storey building came down along Mombasa Road, near the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) terminus in Mlolongo, on the Nairobi to Mombasa highway. The building caved in at about 9:52am while construction workers were on site, according to a situation report issued by Nairobi City County emergency response teams and reported by The Eastleigh Voice.

The county report said the top slab of the structure gave way, bringing part of the building down and trapping workers beneath the debris. Rescue teams moved in quickly, and survivors were pulled from the rubble and taken to hospital for emergency treatment.

Rescue teams search for anyone still trapped

Reports differed on the number of people rescued alive. The Eastleigh Voice, citing the county situation report, said five people were rescued alive. Nairobi News, meanwhile, reported that the Kenya Red Cross said three people had been rescued and taken to hospital. The Red Cross said search and rescue operations were continuing for one person reported missing.

Three bodies were recovered during the initial rescue operations in the morning, and three more were later retrieved from the debris, bringing the confirmed death toll to six. Nairobi News reported that all six victims were believed to be middle-aged men. Their identities had not been released by the time of publication.

The exact number of workers who were on site when the building collapsed was still being established, according to the county emergency teams. Search and rescue teams were combing through the debris to locate anyone who might remain trapped.

Cause not yet established

Officials have not yet established the full circumstances of the collapse. Nairobi News reported that the building caved in on Friday morning while construction workers were carrying out concreting works, and that preliminary reports pointed to a failure of the formwork, the temporary structure used to support concrete while it sets. That account has not been confirmed as the cause, and the authorities have said the matter is under investigation.

The Nairobi City County Fire team and the Urban Search and Rescue team were among the emergency responders at the scene. Police and county officials urged members of the public and motorists using Mombasa Road near the SGR terminus to keep clear of the area so rescue operations could proceed without interruption.

Second deadly collapse in weeks

The incident comes weeks after another building under construction collapsed in Nairobi. An 18-storey structure came down in the Eastleigh area on 23 October, killing eight people. That collapse, like the one in Mlolongo, has renewed concerns over construction safety and compliance with structural engineering standards, particularly during the building of high-rise blocks.

Building collapses have recurred in Nairobi in recent years, often during the construction phase, and each incident has brought fresh questions about approvals, supervision and the quality of materials and workmanship. For now, the focus in Mlolongo remains on the rescue operation and on accounting for everyone who was on site when the building fell.