A junior minister in Kenya has blamed the owners of a building in Nairobi which collapsed killing at least ten people.

Joshua Toro, assistant minister of Roads and Public Works, claimed that plans for the building had not been approved by the city council and had been "structurally deficient", M&C News reports.

Mr Toro said that engineers had not supervised the three-month construction phase of the five-storey building. The structure collapsed on Monday injuring at least 75 people and trapping dozens of construction workers in the rubble.

Rescue workers are still working at the site with rescue dogs and equipment in a bid to free trapped survivors. More than 200 construction workers are understood to have been on or around the site when the building swayed and then collapsed.

Opposition leaders in Kenya have called for a full investigation into the incident and declared that anyone found to be responsible for the tragedy should face the death penalty. Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki has cut short a visit to Sudan to attend to the disaster.

The owner of the building is believed to be the son of a local politician and his whereabouts are not known. 

RICS Kenya Chairman, Saad Yahya commenting on this said,

"The collapse is one one the most tragic events in Nairobi in recent years. It has led to serious soul-searching among Kennyan professionals regarding their responsibility to soceity."

"The government has launched an official enquiry into the matter, but that will do little to assauge the anger of the public and those who lost loved ones. Until the report comes out we wont know for sure what exactly caused the crash."

"However, a combination of factors seem to have contributed to the failure, especially inadequate structural design, poor site supervision, an inadequately resourced Nairobi City Council and unduly fast construction. There are also reports of overloading on upper floors. All this has put the spotlight on the capacity of local authorities to approve and monitor new construction, and the competence of professionals and contractors. As it happened the engineer who designed the structural works was not qualified."