LUANDA, March 29: Nearly 100 people have been pulled alive from the rubble after the seven-storey headquarters of the Angolan police’s criminal investigation department collapsed in Luanda on Saturday, rescue workers said.

While there have so far been no reports of fatalities, many more victims remain trapped in the wreckage and officials said it could take up to three more days before the full extent of the casualties were known.

“We have rescued 98 people who are being treated at different hospitals,” said Eugenio Laborinho, national commander of the protection services.

The wounded were mostly sent to the main Sao Paolo hospital and to a military hospital where the authorities were not giving out details on the extent of their injuries.

Most of those who were injured in the collapse were detainees who were being held in cells while their cases are under investigation. Hours after the building collapsed, emergency services are still trying to reach the worst hit cell block, the women’s detention section, said rescuers.—AFP