
A 13-storey building in Egypt's second city Alexandria tilted across a street into another apartment block on Thursday, forcing police to evacuate it and nearby structures.

The municipality cut electricity and gas supplies to the residential building that was being propped by its neighbour. There were no reports of any injuries.

The military has now been called in to demolish it.

The governor of Alexandria, Mohamed Sultan, said the demolition plan was being completed manually from top to bottom, and that the process was likely to take three days.

The Social Solidarity Minister Ghad Wali added that the ministry would provide 21 apartments for affected families, Ahram Online reported.

Incidents like these take place relatively frequently in Egypt where building regulations are often flouted and additional floors added without planning permission.

A crowd of onlookers gather to inspect Egypt's newest architectural disaster. The 13-storey building has been evacuated by police and electricity and gas supplies have been cut. The military are now planning to demolish the building and are moving through the apartment floor by floor.

Officials say the building's foundations were undermined when an adjoining house was removed. It is believed that water beneath the building could have also been a contributing factor to its collapse. Egyptian authorities have also halted tram service in the area in case the vibrations further destabilize the building

Egyptian Social Solidarity minister Ghada Wali said that his ministry would provide 21 apartments for affected families, along with a daily stipend of 100 Egyptian pounds and free meals. Authorities also pledged to investigate the incident and look into other similarly badly-built buildings in Alexandria

According to local reports the building was originally built as a small apartment in 2002. The owner then illegally added several extra stories, prompting local authorities to say it was unfit for housing. Residents, however, refused to leave the building. Engineers now face a race against time to save the building before it collapses

A crane hoists up workmen to examine the building. Poor construction, illegal building and lax government oversight has made building collapses a relatively common occurrence in Egypt. In 2012 more than 800 families were left homeless by collapsing buildings across the country

Egypt has a population of 93 million but also suffers from an acute housing shortage. Many citizens live in slums outside major cities like Cairo and Alexandria, where buildings are old, dilapidated and not properly inspected. This creates ideal conditions for buildings like the one in Cairo to collapse

Neighbors said that the building had begun slowly tilting a year ago. Governor Sultan claimed that those who'd illegally built the extra stories onto the apartment would face prosecution. The average age of a property in Egypt is between 50 and 70 years, which makes deterioration a common problem

The tilting tower of Alexandria, lit up at night. In 2013 at least 24 people died and 11 others were injured when a building collapsed in eastern Alexandria. Tarek Wafiq, Egypt's housing minister at the time, admitted that the government needed to 'pause and think' about the reasons behind the accident