Rescue operations ongoing at the collapsed 12-storey building in Eastleigh, Nairobi on October 23, 2026/EZEKIEL AMING'A

Twenty people remain unaccounted for following the Eastleigh building collapse, with police and the Kenya Red Cross using phone signals to trace their whereabouts as rescue teams concentrate on underground sections of the rubble.

Nairobi North Regional County Commissioner Simon Osumba said some of the people reported missing were believed to have been working on the underground floor when the building came down.

He said responders were proceeding cautiously to avoid putting their lives at risk while searching the affected sections.

“We have been keenly monitoring so that we don't endanger the lives of our responders. We would want to urge members of the public once again to be patient with us so that we can be able to carry out our work effectively,” Onyango said.

The search has been complicated by inadequate information about some of the missing people, including incomplete names and missing telephone numbers.

Onyango said 11 casual workers who had been at the site were particularly difficult to trace because they had provided only one name and no contact numbers.

Authorities are working with a mobile service provider to track phone signals linked to people reported missing.

However, Onyango said some phones were no longer active or had not been used for a long time, while others might have been left behind when workers fled the building.

“When the alarm came, they might have run away, leaving their phones,” he said.

He said teams had since worked with the Kenya Red Cross to reunite 32 people with their families, while efforts continued to establish the whereabouts of 20 who remained unaccounted for.

The Red Cross has also been helping verify reports of missing relatives, as authorities seek to distinguish those who may be trapped beneath the rubble from people who left the site or were elsewhere when the building collapsed.

The incident occurred on October 23, when a multi-storey building under construction along 9th Street in Eastleigh, Nairobi, collapsed, prompting a multi-agency rescue operation.

The Kenya Red Cross set up a tracing desk to assist families looking for relatives. In an earlier update, the agency said 26 people who had been reported missing had been traced and accounted for.

The number of people reported missing has varied across updates as officials verify information from families and workers. On October 24, authorities were still trying to establish how many people might be trapped beneath the debris, amid differing accounts of those missing.

Police have urged members of the public to remain patient as rescue and tracing efforts continue, with teams prioritising the underground sections and using available technology to establish the whereabouts of those who have not been found.