Rescue efforts continue after the collapse of an 18-storey building in Eastleigh.
Auerilia Wanjiku’s family says calls to her phone connect without a spoken response, raising hopes as detectives investigate the signals.
A family searching for its daughter after the Eastleigh building collapse says calls to her phone connect without a spoken response. Relatives hope Auerilia Wanjiku may still be alive beneath the rubble of the 18-storey building.
Her mother, Jude Rose Wanjiru, described the calls while speaking to the media on Saturday, October 31. Meanwhile, detectives are investigating the phone signals as rescue teams approach their tenth day at the site.
Phone calls raise family’s hopes
Wanjiru said the family tried her daughter’s second number because her other line was not working. The call connected, but nobody spoke. However, relatives said they could clearly hear sounds from the surroundings at the other end.
The family tried again on Saturday morning and said someone answered, again without responding to their voices. They also reported hearing what sounded like excavators during that call, although they were away from the collapse site.
Those calls have strengthened the family’s belief that Wanjiku could be among 16 people still missing. Rescuers believe the missing people may be trapped beneath the debris.
Meanwhile, Wanjiru said relatives had visited the scene daily for nine days, hoping rescuers would find her daughter. She described feeling traumatised and struggling to eat amid the uncertainty.
Eastleigh building collapse search nears tenth day
The family shared the call details with disaster response teams at the scene. Those teams reportedly passed the information to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. DCI officers are now investigating the source of the phone signals.
Meanwhile, rescue teams said they intended to complete the operation on Sunday, November 1, its tenth day. Their attention is shifting to the rear of the collapsed building, where they believe some missing people could be trapped.
The building stood along Yusuf Haji Avenue in Eastleigh, Nairobi, before collapsing on Friday, October 23. The collapse triggered a multi-agency rescue effort involving emergency responders and security personnel.
