Three university students are among five people who passed away when a 3-storey building under construction collapsed near Sagana stage in Murang’a County.
One of the students, Emmanuel Asande, who was undertaking his industrial attachment at the construction site, died a few minutes after arrival at Murang’a Level 5 Hospital. He had worked at the site for the last two weeks.
A preliminary medical report indicated the second-year student at Murang’a University of Technology, who was pursuing civil engineering died due to injuries sustained on his spinal cord.
His colleague, Daniel Nkulet, a deferred third year procurement student, had worked at the construction site as a casual worker for about four weeks.
Murang’a University of Technology Vice Chancellor (VC) Professor Dickson Nyakiri termed the incident as unfortunate saying it has claimed the lives of young people who had bright futures.
“The information about the students Is disturbing and has left the university fraternity in grief. I convey my condolences to the affected families and promise the university will play a role in the burial preparations of the two,” he added.
The varsity Students Organization president Davis Kemboi said they will organize an occasion to mourn the two students.
“We were shocked and emotionally affected by the death of our colleagues who were just trying to earn something to support their education. We send our condolences to the families of our two comrades,” he said.
The third student Geoffrey Wachira was pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology at Moi University and was working as a casual labourer at the site.
His father, Lawrence King’ori, said that his son opted to work at the site after he completed his attachment at Murang’a Level 5 Hospital.
“My son was to go back to university for his fourth year in September this year and so I allowed him to do some construction work to earn some upkeep money. He had barely worked for two weeks before this,” said King’ori.
By Thuita Jaswant
Get more stories from our website: Education News
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
