2006年VOA标准英语-Building Collapse in Nairobi Kills and Wou（在线收听）

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
23 January 2006

 
Rescue workers attempt to free people trapped under the rubble of a building that collapsed in downtown Nairobi, Kenya
  
More than 60 people have been injured and many others feared dead after a building under construction collapsed Monday in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

More than 200 people, mostly construction workers, were inside the partially-completed, five-story building in downtown Nairobi when the accident occurred.

One of the survivors, Christopher Mutiso, tells VOA that he was fortunate to have been on top of the building when it began falling down.  Most of the killed and injured were caught between floors, as the floors collapsed on top of one another. 

"I do work in this building and I was sitting at the top of the building when it started collapsing.  What I can remember, I just alighted like a bus," he said.   "Then, I looked back to see what happened and I saw the building had collapsed."

Firefighters arrived at the scene with metal cutters and crowbars to free trapped men screaming for help.

Other rescue workers and hundreds of ordinary citizens frantically dug through the rubble with their hands and formed a human chain to carry away chunks of concrete.

Relieved on-lookers cheered as several people were pulled out of the wreckage alive.  Ambulances rushed at least 70 people, some seriously injured, to nearby hospitals.

The cause of the accident is not yet known.