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Three killed in Hong Kong building collapse
Posted: 29 January 2010 1700 hrs
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Firemen sift through the rubble after a five-storey building collapsed in an old district of Kowloon in Hong Kong.


HONG KONG: Three people were killed on Friday when a rundown building collapsed in Hong Kong, while at least two were missing and believed to be trapped in the rubble, reports said.

Rescuers were searching for the two missing through the night after the five-storey housing block, built more than 50 years ago, collapsed in the city's mainland Kowloon area, broadcaster RTHK reported.

As well as the three deaths, two people were also injured by the collapse, the government information service said.

More than 100 firemen were deployed to the scene.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang, who visited the site of the collapse, said he believed the accident was linked to a lack of proper maintenance.

Au Choi-kai, director of buildings, said a repair order had been served on the owners of the block this month. But he added that its condition was not bad enough to order its closure, RTHK reported.

Reports said the building collapsed in a matter of seconds.

"I saw bits and pieces of earth and tiles sliding down the wall at the beginning... a woman was trying to climb out through the window. About 15 seconds later, the building fell like dominos," a passer-by told Cable TV.

Cable TV said renovation work was being carried out on the ground floor of the building but that the cause of the collapse remained unclear.

Decades-old, rundown residential blocks are often interspersed with high rises in Hong Kong, an international financial hub famous for its high population density and fast pace of redevelopment. - AFP/ir/de