Egypt Building Collapse Death Toll Rises to 19

The death toll in a building collapse in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria has reached to 19, the health ministry said on Monday, adding that it was still searching for survivors.

"Nineteen bodies have been retrieved from under the rubble of the collapsed building," the health ministry said.

"The bodies have been taken to the Kom el-Dekka morgue in Alexandria," said Ahmed al-Ansari, head of Egypt's ambulances services, in a statement to the official MENA news agency.

The building collapsed in Egypt's second city on Saturday, destroying three neighboring homes, police said.

Witnesses said the building housed four families and a bakery, but could not give an overall number of tenants.

Egypt has seen a number of construction disasters over the years, partly owing to building violations or bad maintenance.

At least 11 people were killed in Alexandria in 2008 when a four-story building collapsed late at night as residents slept.

That came a month after a massive rock slide buried a neighborhood at the foot of a cliff in Cairo, killing more than 100 people.