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An 11-story building under construction in Egypt has collapsed and killed people in smaller buildings around it.

The ministry said five people were injured and teams were searching on Sunday for survivors buried under rubble.

The 11-story building in the poor Alexandria neighborhood of al-Gomrouk collapsed late on Saturday onto three adjacent buildings, reducing much of the structures to rubble. All the dead and injured were in the three smaller buildings.

Building collapses are not uncommon in Egypt, where shoddy construction is widespread in shanty towns, poor city neighborhoods and rural areas.

With real estate at a premium in big cities like Alexandria and Cairo, developers seeking bigger profits frequently violate planning permits and exceed the number of storeys allowed.