Precious Talent School Collapse: Death Toll Rises to 8

The death toll following the collapse of classrooms at Nairobi's Precious Talent School on Monday has risen to eight.

Government spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna had on Monday morning confirmed that six pupils were killed after the walls of the classroom structure caved in at around 7:50 am.

On Monday evening, police said the body of one more pupil was recovered. The fatalities include seven girls and one boy.

Addressing the media after visiting wounded pupils at Kenyatta National Hospital, Deputy President William Ruto said 60 out of the 64 pupils who had been injured had been discharged.

“I am glad doctors are doing their best to ensure the young ones are back in good health soon,” said Ruto.

Col. Oguna announced that the government will cater for all the medical bills of the injured learners.

The affected classrooms were in a one-storey building with the top floor housing junior primary pupils while the ground floor accommodated learners in Class Six, Seven and Eight.

The owner of the school, Moses Wainaina blamed the incident on the construction of a sewer line nearby by Nairobi county government.

“A sewer line was under construction just next to the school and that is what we suspect may have caused this tragedy,” he said.

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said preliminary investigations pointed out that there was malpractice in the construction of the ill-fated building.

Magoha noted that the school’s proprietors built an additional floor to the building without seeking approval, exposing children to danger.

“I have been to all the other classrooms and in my most humble opinion, they are stable. So if a spade must be called a spade ahead of the investigations, you notice that somebody went and build another storey on top of the temporary structure.”

“If you go ahead and do so without anybody’s approval I think we should be fair to each other including being fair to the government,” said Magoha.

“If the owners of this school had remained with a single-storey building this accident should not have occurred.”

The government has since ordered an audit of infrastructure in all institutes countrywide following the incident.