Building Collapses in Egypt, 16 People Hurt

An eleven-storey building collapsed in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria on Saturday, destroying three neighboring homes and injuring at least 16 people, police said.

Witnesses said the building housed four families and a bakery, but could not give an overall number of tenants.

Police officials said rescuers had pulled 16 wounded people from the rubble and that the search for survivors was continuing.

Egypt has seen a number of construction disasters over the years, partly owing to building violations or bad maintenance.

At least 11 people were killed in Alexandria in 2008 when a four-storey building collapsed late at night as residents slept.

That came a month after a massive rock slide buried a neighborhood at the foot of a cliff in Cairo, killing more than 100 people.