Reports coming in revealed that search and rescue workers have pulled out a 6-month-old baby alive from the rubble of a collapsed building as the death toll from the incident rose to 25.This was made known by Egyptian officials.
The stated that the mother, father, and sister of the baby had already been found dead, but teams continued to search for his older brother, who was missing, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
The young boy’s condition was stable as of today, said one official from the country’s civil protection agency.
It was not immediately clear what caused the building’s collapse. An engineering committee was formed to examine the structural integrity of neighbouring buildings, Khalid Abdel-Al, the administrative head of Cairo governorate, said on Saturday. Another 26 people were also injured.
Building collapses are not uncommon in Egypt, where shoddy construction is widespread in shantytowns, poor neighbourhoods and rural areas.
With real estate at a premium in big cities like Cairo and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, developers seeking bigger profits frequently violate building permits. Extra floors often are added without proper permits.
The government has recently launched a crackdown on illegal building across the country, jailing violators and in many cases destroying the buildings.