Several dead as building collapses in Lebanon

TT

Published 19.07 

 

Rescue work is underway in Tripoli in northern Lebanon after a residential building collapsed. Photo: AP/TT

At least five people died when a residential building collapsed in the port city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon on Sunday.

The search for survivors was still ongoing in the evening, according to state media. Eight people had been rescued by then, while five bodies had been recovered, including a child and an elderly woman.

It is an old building that, according to Imad Khreish, head of the civil defense, housed a total of twelve apartments.

Another deadly building collapse occurred in the same city last month.

Buildings in Lebanon are often poorly maintained or have been extended with new floors without building permits. Much of the construction during the civil war of 1975–1990 was illegal.