The death toll has risen to four after two more bodies were recovered from the Eastleigh building collapse in Nairobi on Thursday, November 5. The bodies of one adult female and one male were found in the early hours of Thursday from the collapsed building on 9th Street.

The female’s body was located at around 1.30am whilst the male’s body was found at around 3.30am, according to a police incident report from Eastleigh North Police Station.

Both bodies were in a decomposed state so Crime Scene Investigation officers attended to secure the scene and recover the bodies. They were then sent to Nairobi City Mortuary for post-mortems to establish who they were.

This brings the total to four bodies recovered from the scene sine two bodies were recovered previously. Four people have also been rescued from the building. However, it has been updated that the death toll has now risen to five after a further body was recovered on Thursday morning. It is still unclear how many people are still missing.

A verification process with the Kenya Red Cross and DCI has shown that 16 people are still missing. However, investigators have found that nine of these people were present at the building shortly before the collapse using phone data.

Excavators carry out rescue operations at the collapsed Eastleigh building. PHOTO/@psmuthoni/X.Families of those that are reported as missing are still trying to find out what has happened to their loved ones. As the rescue teams are clearing up the rubble, some of the bodies that have been recovered have been in a bad state so they need to be identified. Post-mortems will be carried out to help identify who they are.

The 18 storey building was still being built when it collapsed at around 1pm on October 23. People were trapped under concrete slabs and rubble. Due to the size of the collapse, it has been difficult to get to the lower parts of the building. Emergency teams have had to remove large amounts of concrete.

Police have asked members of the public to stay away from the area so that emergency teams, specialist equipment and rescue teams can continue working. Multiple agencies have been involved in the rescue, including the National Police Service, National Disaster Management Unit, Kenya Red Cross and others.

The incident has raised concerns over building permits, monitoring and adherence to building regulations in Nairobi.

The National Construction Authority previously identified that this was a planned development. It was registered on July 30, 2025. The developer was 9th Street Plaza Limited, the contractor was Stromax Holdings E.A. Limited. The architect was Emmanuel Mwangi Maina and the structural engineer was Joseph Muturi Mugu.

Nairobi Governor, Johnson Sakaja, has stated that the building did not have the correct building permit and the completed sections were being occupied illegally. The Directorate of Public Prosecutions has asked the DCI to investigate any negligence, failure to act or misconduct by county officials, developers and those working on the building. This should show if there were any issues with how the building was planned, permitted, built or monitored.

This does not mean that anyone or any company is guilty of a crime but whether they will be prosecuted will depend on what evidence is found. The main concern at the moment is to find out how many people are still missing, identify who they are and support families who are waiting to hear about their loved ones.