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Rescue teams working to remove rubble at remains of Hotel Dubrovnik, in city of Villa Gesell.
A 10-storey hotel building has collapsed in Argentina, with a rescue operation ongoing to free people feared to be trapped beneath the rubble.
The building collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday in the coastal city of Villa Gesell, in the Buenos Aires province, local officials said.
Between seven and nine people, including workers from a construction site allegedly operating without municipal permits at the Dubrovnik hotel, were believed to be inside at the time, the statement said.
Rescue teams are currently removing the debris to free those trapped, the Villa Gesell authorities said, adding that the municipality had halted construction work at the site in August of this year.
Firefighters have managed to rescue an elderly woman from the rubble alive, while an 80-year-old man has been killed, local newspaper Pagina 12 reported, citing provincial security minister Javier Alonso.
Mr Alonso was quoted as saying that there were no guests in the hotel, but that there were workers staying in another part of the hotel, which was built in 1986.
More than 300 firefighters, police and other rescue officials were at the scene on Tuesday, in a rescue operation already ongoing for more than eight hours, online outlet Infobae reported, citing the city’s mayor Gustavo Barrera as warning that the adjacent building is also at risk of collapse.
The Independent has approached the security ministry for more information.
Local officials alleged on Tuesday that they had detected and halted unauthorised construction work that was being carried out inside the building without proper clearance back in August.
Infobae cited Mr Alonso as saying that the courts had ordered the arrest of four people in connection with the hotel’s collapse, and that prosecutors had opened an investigation.
independent