Death toll in Lebanon building collapse rises to 15

BEIRUT (AP) — The number of people killed in a building collapse in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon has risen to 15, state media reported Monday.

A further eight people were injured, the state-run National News Agency reported. Lebanon’s civil defense said at least one person suffered a gunshot wound. Residents of the area gathered around the crater where the building had fallen and fired in the air following the collapse.

The six-story apartment building in the impoverished Bab Tabbaneh neighborhood collapsed Sunday afternoon. Resident of Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city, have long complained of government neglect and shoddy infrastructure.

Building collapses are not uncommon in Tripoli due to poor building standards, but the incident on Sunday sparked particular outrage due to the high death toll.

Surrounding buildings in the area were evacuated out of fear that they, too, might be structurally compromised.

Officials have pledged to investigate the cause of the collapse and take legal measures against those found to be responsible for it.