Damascus - A five-story apartment building collapsed in Aleppo province in northern Syria, killing at least four people and injuring a firefighter, police said Sunday.

The bodies of the four men were pulled from underneath the rubble of the building, which collapsed late Saturday, Syrian newspapers reported.

A firefighter was lightly injured when he was hit by debris. The building, which contained 20 apartments, was completely destroyed. The cause of the accidents was under investigation, but poor construction and damages due to sewage leakages to the basement are believed to have played a part.

Witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the building had started cracking only one hour before the collapse and the occupants rushed outside immediately.

The collapse also caused cracking to the neighbouring building.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur