One person died on Friday while two others were unaccounted for after a trench dug by five people collapsed in Kericho town on Friday afternoon.
One of the workers on the Tebsy Estate escaped with bruises when an entire wall collapsed around midday.
Another four were buried alive while digging a trench that was two feet wide and 20 feet deep.
“The victims were digging a trench for a sewer line when the wall collapsed and buried them alive,” said a senior police officer, who declined to be named or give further information, saying a statement would be issued later.
Later in the day, one body was recovered and one person was found alive.
Mr Peter Mutuma, the Kericho East precinct police commander, said the body was found at 3pm – three hours after the collapse was reported.
He said of the survivor: “Miraculously, the man was found alive four hours later and was taken to Kericho County Referral Hospital. He is in a stable condition.”
The search was carried out by police, Kenya Red Cross Society officers and teams from the Kericho County Disaster Management Team and Kenya Power using a bulldozer and two excavators.
The police took the body to the Kericho County Referral Hospital mortuary.
At night, the police suspended the search until Saturday morning.
