12-story building collapses in Egypt's Alexandria, 5 killed

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A 12-story building collapsed Monday in Egypt's Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing five people as rescue workers tried to dig others out from under the debris, a police official and witnesses said. But one rescue worker, Abdullah Adel, said later Monday that only three people died in the collapse, and two women were pulled out alive with minor injuries. He said the rescue operation would continue through the night. It was not immediately clear why there was a discrepancy in the death toll. Police and government officials at the scene repeatedly refused to comment later Monday on how many people had died. Earlier Monday, the police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said residents were still believed trapped under the piles of bricks and concrete slabs of the building in the eastern Al-Raml district of the city.