26 killed in Beirut building collapse

BEIRUT: At least 26 people were killed when an old six-storey building in the Lebanese capital collapsed, officials said on Monday, with more people still trapped under the rubble.

"Until now, 26 bodies have been recovered and we believe there are more buried under the building that collapsed Sunday evening," Red Cross official Georges Kettaneh said.

A dozen people were also injured, none of them seriously.

Civil defence chief General Raymond Khattar told the bodies recovered by rescuers who worked through Sunday night and Monday included those of seven Lebanese, six Sudanese, two Filipinos and two Egyptians.

Among the dead was a 15-year-old Lebanese girl, and those hurt included her grandmother as well as a 73-year-old Lebanese man, at least two Sudanese, an Egyptian and a Filipina.

The building housed some 50 people, many of them labourers from Sudan and Egypt, Khattar said, adding that at least eight people were known to have escaped as the building came down. (AFP)