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“I thought there was an earthquake and then I heard screaming. The whole building fell on itself,” eyewitness Musa Mohamed told AFP.

Mohamed said the building, located in the city’s business district, collapsed around 8:45 am (0545 GMT).

Dozens of people were reportedly working in and around the building at the time, but their exact number was not immediately known.

“So far there are no confirmed deaths, but three people who were severely wounded and unconscious were retrieved. Sixteen others were also rescued,” Saidi Mecky Sadiky, the Dar es Salaam regional commissioner, told AFP.

Sadiky also said that up to 60 people, including workers, food vendors and playing children could have been around the area at the moment of the collapse.

An AFP journalist at the scene said the building is located in an affluent area and has a mixture of both commercial and residential developments.

Area residents were seen trying to rescue those trapped by pulling stones and other construction material from the rubble. The building is said to have had 16 floors.