A five-story apartment building in Cairo, Egypt’s capital, has fallen, killing at least nine people, authorities say as rescuers sweep through the ruins.
According to the state-run MENA news agency, the rescue workers discovered at least nine bodies Monday in the Hadaeq el-Qubbah suburb of Cairo, which is around 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) from the city’s core.
Authorities evacuated a nearby apartment block and took four survivors to the hospital and the families of the nine people murdered in the event will receive 60,000 Egyptian pounds ($1939), according to the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity.
The ministry added that it was keeping an eye on the damage being done to surrounding houses and would offer aid to the injured.
Although the reason for the structure collapse was not immediately made known, poor building practices and a lack of maintenance are pervasive in Egypt’s shantytowns, impoverished city neighborhoods, and rural areas, where building collapses are frequent.
Four persons died and 13 others were injured in a building collapse on Sunday in northern Egypt. In the seaside city of Alexandria in June, 10 people died when their 13-story building collapsed.
A Cairo apartment block fall in 2021 also resulted in at least 18 fatalities and numerous injuries.
After decades of slack enforcement, the government has recently started to crack down on unauthorized structures. In order to rehouse residents residing in high-risk locations, authorities are also constructing new communities and cities.
