Daijiworld Media Network - Tripoli

Tripoli, Feb 9: At least six people were killed and seven others injured after two adjoining residential buildings collapsed in the Lebanese city of Tripoli on Sunday, officials said. Rescue operations were continuing amid fears that more people could still be trapped under the debris.

Abdel Hamid Karimeh, head of the Tripoli municipal council, told reporters that the buildings came down in the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighbourhood of the northern city. He did not specify how many people might still be buried under the rubble.

Earlier, the head of Lebanon’s civil defence rescue service said the collapsed buildings were home to around 22 residents. Rescue workers, assisted by local residents, managed to pull out three people alive from beneath the debris, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

Emergency teams remained at the site, carrying out search and rescue operations, as authorities assessed the cause of the collapse.