Twenty people were killed and another 36, mostly children, injured when a four-storey building collapsed in northern Syria, reported Baath newspaper on Friday, blaming the disaster on “bad construction.”
The tragedy took place in Ariha, a suburb of the north city of Idlib, 335 kilometers (208 miles) at 21:30 local time (19:30 GMT).
Officials were quoted by Syrian news agency (SANA) as saying incessant rains contributed to the tragedy. They said the building came down because of poor construction and an accumulation of water that had undermined its foundations.
The paper said the unlicensed building was constructed in 1985, charging that an unnamed constructor did not meet the specifications when he built the block of flats, adding that the same businessman undertook a number of similar projects in the area.
Four children were killed in the incident in addition to a fifth, whose parents were spending the night at their relatives’. The father and mother survived, according to the daily.
A team of engineers has been formed to inspect other buildings in the same neighborhood of Ariha, an area of illegally constructed buildings, the press said, quoted by AFP – Albawaba.com
