Abidjan: Eight people died when a building under construction in Ivory Coast's economic hub of Abidjan collapsed, emergency services said on Sunday.
The deadly incident struck on Saturday, as work was underway on the building, the lower storeys of which were already occupied by residents.
Such collapses are common in Abidjan, a city of six million inhabitants in which mushrooming construction -- sometimes substandard -- tries to keep pace with population growth.
Ivory Coast's urban planning ministry said in a statement that a combination of heavy rains and concrete-pouring on the fifth storey caused subsidence that brought the building down on Saturday.
It added that the site had no construction permit and action was being taken to determine who was legally responsible.
