Rescuers search for survivors after building collapses in Tanzania, killing at least one

Dozens of people remain trapped in underground shops after collapse of multi-storey building in Dar es Salaam

Rescuers were using their bare hands, drills and sledgehammers to reach dozens of people trapped under a building that collapsed in the centre of Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

The multi-storey building in Kariakoo, the East African country’s busiest market, caved in as people were shopping, killing at least one person, the prime minister, Kassim Majaliwa, said.

Hundreds of people, including army rescuers, clawed through the piles of rubble in the hunt for survivors, alongside excavators.

At least 56 people had been rescued, the Tanzania Red Cross Society said on X.

Witnesses told the Citizen newspaper that the building started expanding its underground business space on Friday before it collapsed a day later.

Dar es Salaam, a port city on the Indian Ocean coast and home to more than 5 million people, is rapidly expanding, and is one of the world’s fastest growing cities, according to the World Bank.

In 2013, a 16-storey building collapsed in Dar es Salaam and killed 34 people.

This story originally appeared on The Guardian.