Rescuers have found six more bodies buried under a collapsed police building in the Angolan capital, Luanda, bringing the death toll to 21, the head of the civil protection service said on Monday.
”We have found the bodies of another six women, raising the number of dead from the 15 reported on Sunday,” the official, Eugenio Laborinho, told the state-run news agency Angop.
He said 147 people were rescued from the ruins of the national criminal investigation department building in Luanda, which collapsed early on Saturday.
Survivors were being treated for broken bones and other injuries.
Most of the injured were detainees, some of whom were held in ground-floor cells buried under piles of debris. About 35 police officers were in the building at the time.
The search was continuing and authorities said they expected to find more bodies, Angop said.
Rescuers have been using sniffer dogs and picking through the rubble with their bare hands in order to locate survivors and recover bodies.
While the authorities have refused to comment on the cause of the disaster, Catholic Radio Ecclesia reported that a seventh floor had been added to the original building, with a massive generator placed on the top floor. — Reuters, AFP