NAIROBI, Kenya – A Kenyan woman has been rescued after being trapped for six days in the rubble of a collapsed building.
Live TV footage shows the woman being carried away on stretcher covered by a blanket and with an oxygen tank by her side to a waiting Kenya Red Cross ambulance.
Kenya’s Disaster Management Unit said earlier Thursday medics had managed to give woman oxygen, water and glucose intravenously while she was stuck.
Her rescue Thursday comes as the death toll from the collapse of the seven story building rose to 36 and 70 people remain missing.
A nearly six-month-old baby was rescued on Tuesday, a development which raised hopes that more survivors would be found. The infant was found unharmed in a washbasin four days after the building collapsed.
With housing in high demand in Nairobi, some unscrupulous developers bypass regulations to cut costs and maximize profits.
After eight buildings collapsed and killed 15 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta last year ordered an audit of all the country’s buildings to see if they are up to code. The National Construction Authority found that 58 percent of buildings in Nairobi are unfit for habitation. Most of Nairobi’s 4 million people live in low- income areas or slums.
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