At least eight people were killed on Tuesday after a six-story apartment building collapsed in Cairo’s western neighborhood of Waili, Egypt, authorities said.
The Health Ministry confirmed that three others sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Cairo’s governor, Ibrahim Saber, ordered the evacuation of neighboring houses as a precautionary measure, according to a statement from the governor’s office.
The cause of the collapse remains unclear, but the governor’s office said prosecutors have launched an investigation into the incident. The building, constructed in the 1960s, is suspected to have suffered from poor maintenance.
Building collapses are common in Egypt, where shoddy construction and lack of maintenance are widespread in shantytowns, impoverished urban neighborhoods, and rural areas.
In recent years, the government has cracked down on illegal construction after decades of lax enforcement. Authorities have also been developing new cities and neighborhoods to relocate residents from at-risk areas.
Despite these efforts, many Egyptian cities still have entire neighborhoods of unlicensed apartment buildings and shantytowns that fail to comply with building codes and safety regulations.
