At Least Three Die in Egyptian Building Collapse

CAIRO — At least three people were killed when a 14-story apartment building collapsed in the coastal city of Alexandria in northern Egypt, authorities said Tuesday.

The high-rise building collapsed early on Monday, and initial reports said eight people were missing beneath the rubble.

On Tuesday, the city authorities confirmed that three bodies had been pulled out of the rubble but did not say if anyone was still missing. Two people were reported injured in the collapse but have since been discharged from the hospital.

It was also not immediately known what caused the collapse. Such incidents are common in Egypt, where shoddy construction is widespread in shantytowns, poor city neighborhoods and rural areas.

The city’s governor, Mohamed Al-Sharif, said that search efforts at the site were underway and that an investigation into the cause of the collapse had begun.

Most apartments in the building are rentals used by vacationers in the summer season, the Alexandria governorate said on Monday.

With real estate at a premium in big cities like Alexandria and Cairo, developers seeking bigger profits frequently violate planning permits, and extra floors are often added to buildings without permission.

In February six people were killed in the Nile Delta city of Damanhour after cooking-gas cylinders exploded in the basement of a four-story building, collapsing the entire structure.

Egyptian authorities have in recent years launched a crackdown on illegal construction and, in many places, moved residents from unsafe houses and shantytowns to newly built cities.

Violators of building permits have also been jailed, and in many cases buildings that have been illegally built have been destroyed.