10 killed in high-rise collapse in Egypt

Alexandria (Egypt), Jul 15: Egypt's Health Ministry says 10 people have been killed when an apartment tower under construction collapsed on adjacent buildings in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.





The ministry said Sunday that five other people were injured and that search teams are searching for survivors buried under rubble.

The 11-storey building in the poor Alexandria neighborhood of al-Gomrouk collapsed late Saturday onto three adjacent buildings, reducing much of the structures to rubble. All the dead and injured lived in the three smaller buildings.

Building collapses are not uncommon in Egypt, where shoddy construction is widespread in shantytowns, poor city neighborhoods and rural areas.

With real estate at a premium in big cities like Alexandria and Cairo, developers seeking bigger profits frequently violate planning permits and exceed the number of stories allowed.