Four people were killed and three others injured late Monday after a building collapsed in Beirut’s southern suburbs, emergency workers said, as efforts continued to search for more people under the rubble.
A collapsed building collapsed on the outskirts of Choeifat on Monday night after several days of heavy rain in Lebanon. Local officials say the building is not considered safe and the municipality ordered the four-story building vacated two years ago over concerns that its foundation was weak. Despite the order, the building’s owner rented out the apartment to a Syrian family.
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Most of the people living in the building are Syrian nationals, said Raja Zureik of the Islamic Health Association, who was involved in rescue operations in the area. He said four people were killed.
Four people were reported dead after a building collapsed on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon. (Fox News Digital)
The state news agency also reported that four people were killed: two women, one man, and one child.
Zureik told The Associated Press that two women and a boy were pulled from under the rubble and rushed to a hospital.
A member of the Lebanese Red Cross told local Al Jadeed TV at the scene that 17 people were believed to still be under the rubble.
A building collapsed in the same area earlier this month, but no one was injured as people were evacuated due to concerns it was unsafe.
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Lebanon hosts around 805,000 UN-registered Syrian refugees, but authorities estimate the actual number to be much higher, between 1.5 million and 2 million.
