7 killed in Mexico City construction site collapse

Slabs collapsed at the car park when workers were trying to place a concrete beam.

At least seven people were reportedly killed and 10 others injured after concrete slabs collapsed at a construction site in Mexico City on Monday (10 April).

Fausto Lugo, the city's civil protection minister said the accident occurred when they were placing a beam in the structure. The beam, which was being raised using a crane, struck one of the support columns.

Rescue teams are looking for survivors at the site, which is a multi-storey car park of a shopping centre in Olivar de Los Padres district located in the western part of the capital.

"[Police] dogs will search for trapped people. And also, obviously, the team of specialists even though we have the appropriate machinery from the construction site to carry out the job," Reuters cited Lugo as saying.

Video footage and images broadcasted in the Mexican media showed firefighter and emergency service crews rescuing people trapped under rubble strewn with massive concrete slabs.

Lugo said the building, where the concrete slabs collapsed, was an open structure. "That is why the work is being carried out very carefully so as not to put colleagues at risk and to give priority to people that we have," he added.

An investigation has been launched to ascertain the cause of the cave-in, and to determine if the construction project had valid permits, according to prosecutor Gustavo Omar Jimenez, AP reported.

Earlier, Raul Esquivel, head of Mexico City's fire services, told local media that at least 20 people were injured, and that some workers were still trapped. However, authorities later revised the number of injured to 10, who have all been transferred to hospitals.

Adriana Juarez, a family member of one of the constructions workers said: "We demand that our family members who are OK, that they be given back to us. Why are they being held here if they're OK? Why don't they give them back to us?"