Cairo building collapse kills twelve

Fatal incident in Hadayek Al Qubba district follows a series of similar disasters across Egypt

Rescuers search the rubble of the collapsed five-storey apartment building in Cairo. AP

Twelve people have died, including three children, and one was injured after a five-storey apartment building collapsed in the Hadayek Al Qubba district of Cairo on Monday, the city's civil protection authority said.

Rescue teams are at the site searching for survivors beneath the rubble, officials told Egyptian TV news on Monday.

All but two people in the area are unaccounted for and the search is ongoing, police officials told The National.

A preliminary investigation into the incident determined the building collapsed because a resident on the ground floor had knocked down one of his walls during renovation.

The man has been arrested pending further investigations, police said.

All the apartment buildings in the vicinity of the collapse have been evacuated for safety, officials said.

Building collapses are quite common in Egypt and Monday's incident comes days after another in the coastal town of Rosetta on Sunday, in which five people were killed and thirteen injured.

The Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity on Monday said it would give 60,000 Egyptian pounds (around $2,000) in compensation to all families who lost a member in the collapse.

Decent Life, a campaign launched by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to provide welfare to the country’s poorest, also led to 50,000 Egyptian pounds being given to families who lost a member in the Rosetta collapse and 25,000 to anyone who was injured.

On Sunday, another building collapsed in the coastal city of Alexandria that left two dead and three injured.

There were two other collapses last month in the Mediterranean city, one that left three dead and another that killed 10 and injured four.