The death toll from the collapsed six-storey building in Huruma has risen to 16 after four more bodies were retrieved on Saturday night.
National disaster management unit deputy director said 69 people are still uncounted for while 135 have been rescued from the rubbles.
“The operation is currently at a delicate stage and we have to balance between saving lives of those trapped and getting the bodies of those who have perished”, Pius Masai told the Star on phone.
Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero is expected to visit the scene this morning and “announce major changes in the Planning and Enforcement team”.
President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the site on Saturday and ordered the arrest of the owner of the building, which had been marked for demolition
Uhuru told officials “to undertake an immediate survey of all the houses in the area to find out those which are at risk of collapsing”, his office said in a statement.
Five survivors were pulled out alive on Saturday to cheers from the crowd.
“We are still hearing some voices from the collapsed building,” Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre director Colonel Nathan Kigotho said.
After mainly working with hands and power tools, rescue workers moved in two excavator vehicles to assist in lifting heavy masonry.
Heavy rains have led to buildings collapsing in the past with residents blaming it on shoddy or illegal construction.
The building in Huruma in eastern Nairobi had 198 rooms, Kigotho said.
Police said more than 120 people had been taken to the hospital.
Lower floors of the building crumpled, leaving some of the top storey still standing. Broken bed frames, mattresses and clothes protruded from the wreckage.
“It is raining, and these houses were built without Nairobi County authorisation,” Deputy governor Jonathan Mueke said on Saturday.
