Toddler found alive four days after building collapsed in Nairobi

Kenyan rescuers have pulled on an 18-month old girl in the debris of a six-storey building in Nairobi, four days after the block collapsed, killing 23 people.

“Good news!” Kenya Red Cross said. “A child aged about one and half years rescued alive at 04:00 hours [01:00 GMT] and referred to Kenyatta National hospital.”

The Red Cross said the girl was discovered pail wrapped in a blanket and was dehydrated but without visible injuries.

Since the building, which was home to 150 families crammed into single rooms, collapsed on Friday night she’d been there for 80 hours,.

Nairobi’s police chief, Japheth Koome, called it a miracle and said the emergency services were continuing their rescue attempts.

Authorities said the death toll from the tragedy rose to 23 after two more bodies were discovered.

After being declared structurally unsound the building, in the poor, closely packed Huruma were slated for demolition. But an evacuation order for the construction, which was built near a river just two years ago, was ignored.

Five individuals are to appear in court on Tuesday to face manslaughter charges over the event.

Several buildings have failed recently in Nairobi and other Kenyan cities, where a property boom has led to buildings being put up at rate, often with scant regard for building regulations.

In Nairobi, at least 30 people have perished including the deaths in Huruma since the weekend in accidents linked to floods caused by torrential rains.