About 15 people are missing after a seven-storey building collapsed in a residential area of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, rescue services said on Tuesday.

The Kenya Red Cross said on its Twitter feed that the building had collapsed in an eastern Nairobi suburb, while Saint John's Ambulance said 15 people were reported missing.

Pictures on Kenya Red Cross' Twitter feed showed a pile of broken concrete blocks and bent metal.

The incident occurred on Monday night, both rescue services said.

Kenya Red Cross said the building had been vacated before the collapse, and that rescue personnel were checking the area to make sure no one was in its vicinity when it came down.

The East African nation has seen similar tragedies in the past. A total of 49 people died mid-last year when another building collapsed during a heavy, nighttime downpour in a poor neighborhood.