Death toll in Sharqiya building collapse climbs to 9

Ahram Online , Thursday 14 Jan 2016

The seven children and two women who died as a result of the building collapse are all from the same family

The death toll from the collapse of a six-story residential building in Egypt's northern Sharqiya governorate climbed to nine on Wednesday after rescue workers dug more bodies out of the rubble.

The bodies of four more victims, including three children, were recovered from the ruins late on Wednesday, state news agency MENA reported.

The victims of the building collapse in Miniya Al-Qamh city are seven children and two women and are all from the same family, according to provincial police official Hatem Al-Heidaby.

Army rescue teams joined efforts to search for survivors in the debris as workers continued to dig through the ruins to find the belongings of residents.

On Wednesday, four Egyptian officials were suspended and referred to the prosecutor-general for investigation over charges of negligence that led to the incident.

The building, which collapsed on Monday, was originally licensed for four stories but owners added two illegal floor extensions, Sharqiya's provincial governor Khaled Said said.

Building collapses are commonplace in Egypt and are usually blamed on lax construction, violations of building specifications, and illegal extensions.

Officials often report that dilapidated buildings are issued demolition orders that are not carried out. 

Last month, at least seven people were killed in three separate building collapses in a week.

In November, 11 people were killed and two-dozen injured when two adjacent buildings collapsed in the city of Fayoum, south of Cairo.

Early in October, seven people died and two were injured when their apartment block crumbled in Cairo's working class district of Shubra.

 

 

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