World News | Official: Apartment Building Collapse in Egypt Kills 4
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. At least four people were killed Sunday when an apartment building collapsed in southern Egypt, a senior official said.
Cairo, Jan 8 (AP) At least four people were killed Sunday when an apartment building collapsed in southern Egypt, a senior official said.
Building collapses are common in Egypt, where shoddy construction and a lack of maintenance are widespread in shantytowns, poor city neighbourhoods and rural areas.
Rescue teams recovered four bodies from under the rubble of a five-story building in the Qulta neighbourhood of the city of Assiut, said the province's Gov. Essam Saad.
He said in a statement that rescuers also recovered two survivors who were taken to a local hospital. Assiut lies some 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of the capital Cairo.
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The governor added that authorities had evacuated surrounding apartment buildings, and dispatched bulldozers and other equipment to clear and secure the site.
Footage shared by the governor's office appeared to show rescuers attempting to remove rubble and work through the building's ruins.
By Sunday afternoon, rescue teams were still searching for survivors using bulldozers and diggers to lift debris.
The collapse in Assiut came a day after the roof of a building in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria caved in, leaving two people dead and one injured.
The government has tried to crack down on illegal building in recent years after decades of lax enforcement. Authorities are also building new cities and neighbourhoods to rehouse those living in at-risk areas.
But many Egyptian cities still contain entire neighbourhoods of unlicensed apartment blocks and shantytowns that don't follow building codes and regulations. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)