Collapsed apartment building in Lebanon as 13 people dead

At least 13 people died and 20 others may be trapped in rubble after a building collapsed in Beirut, Lebanon.

13 people died when the building collapsed in Beirut, Lebanon.

"So far we found 13 bodies and 20 survivors trapped under rubble. We hope to find survivors, "Raymond Khattar, head of civil defense agency said after the six-storey building crashed down yesterday.

Mr. Khattar said the bodies of the victims were found included three Lebanese, while the rest are mainly Sudanese workers. Officials of the Red Cross earlier told AFP that 12 people were wounded when apartment buildings in the district of Ashrafiyeh suddenly collapsed.

According to Khattar, the building was home to about 50 people, including many migrant workers from Sudan and Egypt. He said that at least eight people escaped when the building collapsed. Among the dead are a 15-year-old girl, while her little girl and a 73-year-old man, two Sudanese, an Egyptian woman and a Philippines are among the injured.

A resident escaped with his mother, said the building looked dilapidated and the owner had warned the tenant should run out, just before it collapsed. The woman said that her father and three brothers still trapped under the rubble. "All that looks like an earthquake when the building collapsed," a witness said.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has quickly on the scene last night, the Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and other officials.

Charbel notify the owner of the building has been arrested for questioning. He added that the authorities should check the same apartment complex across the country, because many buildings were built illegally or build additional floors without the permission of local authorities.