At least eight people were killed on Monday when a five-storey building in the Egyptian capital Cairo collapsed, a security officer at the scene and state media said.

The building in the Hadayek el Kobba neighbourhood north of central Cairo was in a densely built area of informal housing, where rescue workers searched through the rubble for survivors.

Building collapses are common in Egypt due to poor construction standards in many areas

(Reporting by Mohamed Abdel-Ghany; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Hugh Lawson)