Cairo: Twelve people were killed in a collapse of an unlicensed apartment building of the Egyptian capital, a health official said on Sunday.
The four-floor building collapsed on Thursday in the poor district of Monshaat Nasser, a slum area on the southern outskirts of Cairo. Initially, authorities said one person was killed in the incident, as rescue teams were removing the wreckage.
On Sunday, Health Ministry spokesman Khalid Mejahed revised the figure and put the final death toll at 12.
He added in a statement that 19 others were injured in the incident.
The dead included three children. Eight families had lived in the building, said Mohammad Ayman, a deputy Cairo governor. He added authorities will provide alternative housing to survivors.
House collapses are common in Egypt due mainly to unlicensed building and the use of poor construction material.
Thousands of tenements are believed to have been illegally constructed in Egypt during the unrest that hit the country following the 2011 uprising that forced long-time president Hosni Mubarak out of power.
In recent years, the Egyptian government has launched an ambitious plan to stop informal housing and relocate slum dwellers to new residential communities.
