Several Feared Trapped as Building Collapses in Kericho: Rescue Operations Underway

Breaking Details From the Scene

Several people are feared trapped after a building under construction collapsed in Kaptebeswet Bypass area, Kericho County. The building collapsed while workers were still on site, and construction equipment can be seen in the images shared from the scene.

The collapse occurred during working hours, raising immediate concerns about the number of labourers who may have been on site. Emergency response teams were swiftly dispatched to the scene, and a race against time to reach those still unaccounted for is currently underway.

The County Government of Kericho confirmed that it has received reports of the collapse at Kaptebeswet, Kipchebor Ward, and has swiftly dispatched its emergency response teams, including firefighting units and ambulances. "In addition, we are mobilising excavators and other heavy machinery to support ongoing rescue efforts," the county said.

The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) confirmed that several people are feared trapped under the debris, with rescue operations already underway and four individuals already rescued.

At the time of publication, police had not yet confirmed the full number of casualties or injuries, with the situation on the ground still rapidly evolving.

Who Is Responding? Multi-Agency Rescue Teams on the Ground

The Kericho County Government has mobilised a multi-agency response to the disaster. Firefighting units, ambulances, and heavy machinery including excavators have been deployed to help clear the rubble and reach survivors. The Kenya Red Cross Society has also confirmed its active participation in the ongoing rescue efforts.

Images shared from the scene paint a grim picture — construction equipment is still visible jutting through the collapsed structure, a stark reminder that workers were in the middle of an active construction shift when the building gave way.

Residents in the Kaptebeswet Bypass area gathered at the scene as emergency responders worked their way through the debris, with anxious family members and bystanders awaiting news of the trapped workers.

A Haunting Precedent: Kericho Has Seen This Before

Today's collapse is not the first time Kericho has been rocked by a building disaster — and that history makes the latest incident all the more troubling.

In a previous collapse that sent shockwaves across Kenya, the three-storey Tebs View Court in Kericho collapsed on a Tuesday evening, killing a six-year-old boy. The owner of the ill-fated building — a local contractor — was reportedly aware of the problems with the structure before it fell.

According to one of the tenants who "escaped death by the grace of God," the proprietor was informed on a Sunday that his building had developed massive cracks. He came to inspect it on Monday, and construction workers were brought in to carry out reinforcement. However, this ended up causing the cracks to develop further until the building collapsed.

The building was occupied by six families and all the occupants, except the young victim, managed to escape when the building slowly began to sink. "Unfortunately, by the time rescuers managed to get to the boy, he had succumbed to the injuries after the walls of the house he was living in collapsed on him," said Kericho County Police Commander Silas Gichunge, who led the six-hour search and rescue mission.

That tragedy put both the National Construction Authority (NCA) and the Kericho County Government on the spot — and Wednesday's collapse raises the uncomfortable question of whether lessons were ever fully learned.

Accountability in the Spotlight: What Authorities Said Then — And What They Must Say Now

Following the Tebs View Court collapse, Ainamoi MP Sylvanus Maritim, who visited the site, said NCA officials and the county's Department of Lands, Physical Planning and Survey should be held accountable. "The cases of buildings collapsing in the country must come to a stop," he said, adding that all parties in the construction industry must do their part.

The MP asked Governor Paul Chepkwony's administration to probe how the building was cleared for occupation when tenants had raised concerns about its structural soundness. "Someone must take responsibility over the collapse," he said.

The Kericho County Executive Committee Member in charge of Lands, Housing and Physical Planning, Barnabas Ngeno, said that in the previous case the property owner had obtained approvals for the building, and it was among the buildings due for routine inspection — a statement that critics say exposes how routine inspections are failing to prevent disasters before they happen.

With Wednesday's collapse now adding to the county's grim record, pressure on county officials and the NCA to provide answers is mounting once again.

Kenya's Building Collapse Crisis: A Nationwide Problem

The Kericho collapse on March 18, 2026 is the latest in a troubling string of structural failures across Kenya in recent months alone:

January 2, 2026 — South C, Nairobi: A multi-storey building under construction collapsed, leaving at least four people trapped.

January 11, 2026 — Karen, Nairobi: Two workers died when a building under construction collapsed while masons were laying a slab, with seven others hospitalised.

March 16, 2026 — Shauri Moyo, Nairobi: At least four people were killed when a building collapsed during a planned demolition exercise along the Nairobi River.

March 18, 2026 — Kaptebeswet, Kericho: Several workers feared trapped as a building under construction collapses. Rescue operations ongoing.

Building collapses are common in Kenya, where housing is in high demand and unscrupulous developers often bypass regulations or simply violate building codes. After eight buildings collapsed and killed 15 people in Kenya in 2015, the presidency ordered an audit of buildings across the country to see if they were up to code. Despite that audit occurring over a decade ago, the collapses have never stopped.

What Must Change? Experts and Leaders Demand Action

The recurring tragedy of building collapses in Kenya demands urgent structural reform — not just in the buildings themselves, but in the systems meant to prevent their failure:

1. Continuous, surprise inspections: The NCA must shift from scheduled routine checks to unannounced, real-time monitoring of active construction sites — particularly in counties like Kericho where previous collapses have already raised red flags.

2. Criminal accountability: Developers and contractors who ignore structural warnings, as happened in the Tebs View Court case, must face criminal prosecution — not just fines or licence suspensions that fail to deter future negligence.

3. Tenant and worker protection: Workers and residents must have a clear, accessible, and anonymous channel to report structural concerns before a collapse occurs. The Tebs View Court tragedy showed that tenants raised alarms — and were ignored.

4. County government co-responsibility: County governments that issue building approvals and collect levies must be held jointly accountable when approved buildings collapse due to structural failures that inspections should have caught