A four-storey building near the Mackinnon Market around Marikiti area of Mombasa County collapsed today in the afternoon.
The building had been declared not safe for dwelling in early this month by the Mombasa County Lands and Housing Department was to be demolished but it caved in before the demolition.
Lucky enough no one was injured during the incident. It is reported that a team had been sent before hand to evacuate the occupants by the County government.
According to Abdulswamad Nassir Mombasa County Governor, they received complaints from residents about some buildings in the Marikiti area which are not safe.
The inspection team on buildings conducted an inspection in the area and noted the building was not safe for occupation, therefore, a notice was given to all tenants to leave the premises in two weeks time.
The Governor said despite the warning some of the tenants majority of whom are business people did not want to leave hence they had to sent a team to forcefully evict them.
According to Governor Nassir, they had received information that some tenants had not heed the warning to vacate by yesterday from the unsafe building.
A team led by Lands Executive Hussein Mohammed arrived at the site and forcefully evict the tenants from the building. About two hours after eviction, the building collapsed with no one inside.
The governor in his statement said he applauds the county officials who took action swiftly in evicting the tenants in time because they saved lives and averted an impending disaster.
Governor Nasir also reiterated his message on the importance of having order in the city.You did the right thing and you have my backing. In a place where people do not want to follow orders, you need to force them.
If action had not been taken in time it could have come to worst case scenario of rescuing injured persons or removing dead bodies.
According to the county notice to the house owner, the building had shown signs of collapsing.
The county government had written a notice to the landlord saying that while investigations were being conducted, you are hereby requested to inform your tenants to vacate the premise with immediate effects.
