Collapsed building traps 18

A 12-storey building collapsed in a Cairo suburb tonight after a fire broke out in the lower floors, injuring at least 29 people and trapping 18 others in the rubble, police said.

Twenty residents and nine policemen were injured and taken to hospital, the police officials said.

Most of the people who were trapped in the building were firefighters and policemen sent to put out the blaze, officials said. They said most of the building’s tenants had evacuated by the time it collapsed.

Police officials said the fire broke out on the ground floor. At first, they said the blaze started at an Egyptian fast-food restaurant but later said that the fire began at an adjacent home appliances store.

Witnesses said the building fell down three hours after the fire started, giving tenants enough time to evacuate.

The police officials said 16 firemen and policemen as well as two civilians were inside the building when it fell down.

The building is located on the main commercial Abbas Al-Aqqad St in Nasr City, an eastern suburb of the Egyptian capital near the airport. The area is home to many high-rise residential buildings and shopping centres.

Police sealed off the area to keep residents away and to prevent any disruption of the rescue effort.

Rescue officials evacuated two adjacent buildings that were damaged by the collapse as firemen and policemen worked under floodlights to try to rescue their trapped colleagues.

Building collapses are common in Egypt and are often caused by shoddy construction or the unauthorised building of extra stories.