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Building collapse kills six in Egypt

By AAP Newswire

Jun 18, 2022

Cairo collapsed building — Residents and rescue workers sifted through the rubble of a collapsed building in Cairo. -AP

A residential building has collapsed in Cairo, killing six people, Egyptian media reports say.

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The five-floor building collapsed at dawn in the area of al-Zaher, state-run newspaper al-Ahram reported online, quoting neighbours.

The search for victims was completed after the sixth body had been retrieved, it added.

Civil defence personnel had recovered the bodies of four men and two women from under the rubble, according to Akhbar al-Youm, another state-run news outlet.

Police arrested the owner of the collapsed building allegedly for failing to comply with an earlier municipal order to repair the house, the portal said, citing an unnamed Cairo official.

Deadly collapses of residential buildings are not uncommon in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country of more than 100 million.

They are often blamed on poor maintenance of ageing buildings and violations of construction regulations.

The Egyptian government has recently toughened building codes to curb informal housing.

By AAP Newswire

Australian Associated Press