Aleppo deaths: child among 10 killed as building collapses in Syrian city

A child was among 10 people killed after a building collapsed in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

The five-storey building housing about 30 people is in the Sheikh Maksoud neighbourhood, which is under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Syrian state media said it collapsed overnight, adding that water leakages had weakened the structure’s foundations.

Dozens of firefighters, first responders and residents covered in debris and dust were searching through the rubble for the remaining residents with drills and a bulldozer. Some relatives of the tenants waited anxiously nearby, while others mourned at the entrance of a nearby hospital as the bodies arrived in ambulances and on the back of trucks.

Many buildings in Aleppo were destroyed or damaged during Syria’s 11-year conflict, which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Although the Syrian government under President Bashar Assad has retaken the city of Aleppo from armed opposition groups, Sheikh Maksoud is among neighbourhoods under the control of Kurdish forces.