Building Collapse Leaves 10+ Dead

(NewsGlobal.com)- The United States-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces now have control of the Sheikh Maksoud area, where a five-story building that was home to about thirty individuals has collapsed.  According to the investigation, the base of the building was undermined by water leaking, ultimately leading to its collapse overnight.

Initially, it was claimed by Hawar News, the news agency for the semiautonomous Kurdish territories in Syria, that seven people had been killed and three others had been wounded, with two of the injured suffering severe injuries.

Reports from state media state that the building that collapsed early on Sunday morning in a neighborhood in Aleppo in northern Syria claimed the lives of at least 16 people, including one child, and injured four others. Unaccounted-for inhabitants were being searched for using drills and a bulldozer by dozens of firemen, first responders, and locals. Rescuers were covered in debris and dust as they dug through the wreckage, searching for the other people.

Some relatives of the tenants waited nervously nearby, while others grieved at the door of a neighboring hospital as the dead came in ambulances and on the backs of trucks. The remains were transported to the hospital.

SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi issued a statement that condemned the Syrian government forces that control the neighborhoods surrounding Sheikh Maksoud for “banning the entry of basic materials into the neighborhood for years, obstructing efforts to stabilize and restore life in the area.” During the 11 years of fighting in Syria, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, many structures in Aleppo have been destroyed or severely damaged.

Sheikh Maksoud is one of the districts in Aleppo controlled by Kurdish troops. This is although the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad has successfully retaken Aleppo from armed opposition organizations.

Aleppo is Syria’s most populous city and was historically the country’s commercial hub.