Rescue teams are searching for survivors in the rubble of a high-rise building which collapsed in flames in a Cairo suburb killing at least 10 people.
A fire caused cooking gas canisters at a restaurant on the ground floor of the 11-storey apartment block to explode, sending the building crashing down on top of rescue workers trying to extinguish the flames.
Officials said the bodies of 10 people had been recovered, mostly military police and rescue workers who were evacuating the building when it collapsed. They said at least four other people were believed to be still under the rubble.
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| The high-rise building which collapsed in Cairo today.
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"There were actually a number of gas explosions caused by the fire... Unfortunately the heat from the fire caused the explosions, which made the building collapse," said an interior ministry official.
Other officials cited building permit violations as a possible factor in the quick collapse of the building.
Cairo Governor Abdel Raheem Shehata said an order for the two-decade-old building's demolition had been issued in 1992. Planning permission had only been granted for four of its levels. A further seven had been added illegally, he said.
A high-level security source said: "There's still hope. We are prepared to work for days until we are absolutely certain there's no one left in the building."
The source, who declined to be named, said he could not rule out the possibility that some civilians as well as the four rescue workers and military police may also be trapped under slabs of concrete.