16 Killed after Building Collapses in Syria

On Sunday, the collapse of a building killed 16 people in a predominantly Kurdish neighborhood in Aleppo city, northern Syria.

Searches continue for survivors, according to a new toll reported by the official Syrian News Agency.

A Kurdish media agency reported that children were among the victims.

Cases of residential buildings collapse are frequent in Aleppo, the second largest city in Syria, whether as a result of illegal construction without solid foundations or as a result of building cracks due to the violent battles in the city.

Since the collapse of the building, as a result of "water leaking into its foundations," according to the Syrian official media, at dawn on Sunday, the death toll has gradually risen, while relief operations and the search for survivors are still continuing.

The Syrian Ministry of Interior had announced earlier, "13 bodies and one person were recovered alive, in a preliminary toll."

According to the ministry, the five-story building collapsed at 3 am in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, in which seven families lived.

Residents of the neighborhood told AFP that the number of residents in the building was about 35 people.

The displacement crisis resulting from the ongoing conflict since 2011 has prompted a large number of people to seek refuge in damaged or nearly destroyed buildings or lacking basic infrastructure and services.

Last September, ten people, including three children, died as a result of the collapse of a five-story building in Aleppo, due to its weak foundations.

In February 2019, the collapse of a war-damaged building in the city killed 11 people, including four children.