A building under construction on more than ten floors collapsed at about 13:00 local time in central Nairobi, leaving concrete slabs and debris. A plasterer who escaped from the fourth floor told AP that workers had heard warnings that the building was about to collapse and that he feared not all of his colleagues had escaped. Residents said they had been in contact by phone with people who might have been trapped, and there were fears of deaths.

Rescue workers initially operated without heavy machinery. After an excavator arrived, they reached the ground floor and basement, where shops had already been operating, but it was not known whether victims were found there. Police used tear gas to disperse looters near the busy shopping street. A police commissioner said the remains were pressing against a neighboring building that might also collapse.