4 Rescued in Kenya 6 Days After Building Collapse

Four more people were rescued in Kenya on Thursday, six days after a catastrophic building collapse.

First, an expectant woman was pulled out of the rubble after being trapped in the collapsed seven-story apartment building in the Kenyan capital, the second survivor found this week in the ruins of the structure that fell amid heavy rains and killed 36 people.

A crowd broke into applause as Elizabeth Night Odhiambo, 24, under a blanket and with her face covered with an oxygen mask, was carried away on a stretcher to an ambulance in a scene broadcast live on Kenyan media.

“I cannot say the happiness I have,” said her husband, Stephen Onyango, a truck driver. “I have never had such happiness like this in my life.”

“This is a miracle,” said Pius Masai, head of the unit.

Before military engineers broke through slabs of concrete that had trapped her in a small corner of her room in the building, medics had managed to give her oxygen and an intravenous drip of water and glucose, according to Kenya’s Disaster Management Unit.

“We are very happy that even after six days, someone has been found alive,” said Abbas Gullet, head of the Kenya Red Cross.

Later Thursday, three more people  – two women and a man – were rescued from the rubble, according to Nairobi’s police chief Japheth Koome.

On Tuesday, a 6-month-old girl was found alive in a washbasin in the debris.

The collapse killed at least 36 people, and at least 70 are still missing.

Rescuers were working around the clock to find any other survivors. Authorities initially used backhoes in the search, with firefighters and volunteers also removing chunks of debris by hand in the frantic rescue effort. A day after the collapse, the military brought in special equipment. President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the scene.

Odhiambo was found after trained dogs were brought in, along with special equipment to detect breathing and movement, said military spokesman Col. David Obonyo.

Authorities say it is rare for anyone to survive more than 72 hours without water in such instances.