16 displaced people were killed in the collapse of a building in northern Syria
Rescue teams are searching for survivors under the rubble.
Father
The collapse of a building killed 16 people, yesterday, in a majority-Kurdish neighborhood in the city of Aleppo, northern Syria, according to a toll announced by the Syrian Ministry of Interior, while the Kurdish “Hawar” news agency indicated that there were five children among the victims, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the dead were from Afrin displaced.
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 that took place in the city.
The Syrian News Agency, SANA, stated that the building, which is located in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, collapsed as a result of water leaking into its foundations, indicating that a person was recovered alive.
Residents of the neighborhood told AFP that the number of residents of the building was about 35 people.
The neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud is a Kurdish-majority area run by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Displaced people from the Afrin region in the northwestern Aleppo countryside sought refuge in it years ago after the Turkish forces took control of it.
A video clip published by Syrian state television showed dozens of people busy searching for survivors, some of whom gathered around the building and others on its roof, as bulldozers worked to remove the rubble.
The displacement crisis in Syria prompted many to seek refuge in damaged or semi-destroyed buildings or lacking basic infrastructure and services. Last September, 10 people, including three children, died as a result of the collapse of a five-storey building in Aleppo, due to its weak foundations. The collapse of a war-damaged building in the city, killing 11 people, including four children.
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