Two dead, 15 trapped after Azeri building collapses

BAKU, Aug 28 (Reuters) At least two people were killed and up to 15 others could be trapped under rubble after a 14-storey building under construction in Azerbaijan's capital Baku collapsed today.

Officials said violations of building regulations were the most likely reason for the collapse, which caused the building to topple over into a road.

An emergency services spokesman told reporters rescuers had dragged out one dead body and three injured people from the rubble, but one of the injured later died.

Police and rescue teams were searching for more trapped people. Heavy equipment arrived to dismantle the wreckage and rescue operation was expected to continue throughout the night.

Television pictures showed a truck parked nearby that had been crushed by a wall of debris.

Azerbaijan's ANS television quoted a source in the prosecutor's office as saying 22 people were in the building when it collapsed, but at least seven of them had been rescued.

In a conflicting account, an emergencies service spokesman told reporters that contractors believed four or five people could still be trapped under the rubble.

The capital of Azerbaijan, an oil-producing ex-Soviet republic, has been experiencing a construction boom with high-rise buildings springing up across the city on the shore of the Caspian Sea.

Reuters RKM VP0216