Authorities reported that at least nine people were killed when a five-story apartment building collapsed in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, as rescue workers dug through the rubble.
At least nine bodies were found under the building's debris on Monday in Cairo's Hadaeq el-Qubbah neighbourhood, about 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) from the city's centre, according to the state-run MENA news agency.
According to MENA, authorities evacuated a nearby apartment building and took four survivors to the hospital.
Meanwhile, it was also reported that the families of the nine people killed in the incident will receive 60,000 Egyptian pounds ($1939), according to the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity.
The ministry added that it would provide aid to the injured and was keeping an eye on property damage in the area.
According to local reports, police officers surrounded the area as rescue workers dug through the debris in search of potential survivors, while the cause of the building's collapse was not immediately apparent.
In Egypt, however, poor building practices and a lack of maintenance are pervasive in shantytowns, impoverished city neighbourhoods, and rural areas. As a result, building collapses are a common occurrence, Al-Jazeera reported.
Four people perished and 13 others were injured in a building collapse on Sunday in northern Egypt, while in June, a 13-story building in Alexandria, a coastal city, collapsed, killing 10 people inside.
Additionally, when an apartment building in Cairo collapsed in 2021, at least 18 people were killed and numerous others were hurt.
After decades of lax enforcement, the government has recently tried to crack down on unauthorised structures. Authorities are also constructing new towns and neighbourhoods to house those who are currently residing in high-risk areas.
Developers looking to make more money frequently violate building permits in large cities like Cairo and Alexandria, which is a Mediterranean city. Unauthorised governmental additions of additional floors are frequent.