A two-year-old child in Eastleigh, Nairobi, died after rubble from an adjacent 10-storey building struck him while he was watching television.
Abdisalam Mohamed was watching cartoon in his room when the incident happened.
According to Kelvin Nyagah, the caretaker of an adjacent building, the child was sitting on the bed inside his parent’s house when he was hit on the head and chest by three bricks that fell from the building, which is under construction Saturday, May 27.
Several bricks fell from the building at around noon tearing through the roof of the nearby building where the boy was seated watching TV.
“A big wall fell apart and hit different places around the nearby buildings but three blocks hit the child,” Nyaga said.
He said that well-wishers rushed the boy to the hospital, but he died before they arrived.
Other youngsters in the house were unharmed since they were playing in another room.
It was the second time debris was falling from the structure.
Residents have said that the last time it happened, the bricks landed on surrounding automobiles, destroying them but causing no harm to occupants.
The building’s development was halted after police officers visited the site to see if the law’s regulations were being followed.
Police are investigating the incident.
The officers picked the stones that killed the boy and left with them.
A lawyer representing the residents says they will take action.
“The owner of that property owes a duty of care not only to the neighbouring property but also to the people who stay. We shall be holding him liable and he shall face the court on criminal charges,” said lawyer George Omwansa who is representing the residents.
There has been a spike in tragedies at construction sites in the past days. This has seen among others workers slide and fall off the highrise structures under construction.
Officials have blamed the trend on lack of protection gears and poor enforcement of laws.
