Egypt: 6 die in building collapse in Al Mahla area in Cairo

Cairo: Six people were killed and two others injured in the collapse of a residential building in the provincial city of Al Mahla Al Kubra, north of Cairo, Egyptian media reported Sunday. Four other people survived the Saturday collapse of the five-floor building because they happened to be outside the place at the time of the tumbling, the semi-official newspaper Al Ahram reported.

An engineering committee has been formed to determine the cause of the collapse, the paper added. Local officials went to the scene to oversee rescue operations. Security forces, meanwhile, cordoned off the debris and adjoining buildings for fear of potential collapses.

The province’s Governor Tarek Rahmi ordered the evacuation of the adjacent buildings as a precaution for their residents’ safety until the rubble of the collapsed tenement are removed.

Building collapses are not uncommon in Egypt due to lack of maintenance, unlicensed construction and lax regulations. In recent months, the Egyptian government has cracked down on informal housing across the country of over 100 million.