Eighteen people are feared dead and seven others injured in the collapse of an eight-floor residential building in Cairo, Egypt earlier today, and the casualty figures was expected to rise. Authorities say this collapse was likely caused by an illegal extension built on top of the building.
Scene of the collapse
Eighteen people are feared dead and seven others injured in the collapse of an eight-floor residential building in Cairo, Egypt earlier today, and the casualty figures was expected to rise.
Ahmed Fawzi, a local municipal official, told state television only four people had escaped from the collapse, which he said was likely caused by an illegal extension built on top of the building.
Bodies carried from the rubbles
Such incidents are not uncommon in Egypt where old apartment buildings are routinely neglected and many new ones are put up without obtaining the required permits or adhering to safety standards that may raise the cost of construction.
Emergency services, soldiers and neighbors spent the morning rifling through a 15 foot high pile of rubble in search of survivors in a densely populated northeast district of the capital. Bodies wrapped in black were removed on stretchers to waiting ambulances as bulldozers lifted debris.
The percentage of Egypt's land that is not desert is relatively small for its population of 86 million people. Housing Minister, Mustafa Madbouly also told Reuters last month the government would offer cheap loans to help residents complete apartments in unfinished buildings thrown up illegally across the country. This is expected to reduce the amount of unfinished and illegal buildings in the nation.