5 dead in Egypt building collapse
Victims included a passerby in the street at the time of collapse
Cairo: A residential building had collapsed in an Egyptian province, killing at least five people, local media reported.
The five-storey tenement tumbled down Friday in the governorate of Beheira, around 125km north of Cairo.
Four of the fatalities were residents of the building while the fifth, aged 39, happened to pass by the street at the time of the collapse, according to a media report.
Security forces cordoned off the site while three neighbouring buildings were evacuated for safety reasons, local authorities said.
Rescue teams are still removing the rubble in search of survivors or victims.
Beheira Governor Maj. Gen. Hesham Amna went to the site and ordered the formation of an engineering committee to determine the cause of the collapse and examine the adjoining buildings.
Authorities in the province said no earlier demolition order had been issued for the building. “All signs indicated that the outer condition of the building was good,” they added in a Facebook statement.
Building collapses are not uncommon in Egypt due to lack of maintenance, unlicensed construction and lax enforcement of regulations.
In recent months, the Egyptian government has cracked down on informal housing across the country of over 100 million people.