A building collapse in the Egyptian capital has killed six people, authorities said, as rescuers at the scene searched through the rubble.

It was not immediately known what caused the collapse.

Cairo’s deputy governor, Ibrahim Abdel-Hadi, said in a statement released by the Interior Ministry that a family of six was believed to have been inside the six-storey building in the el-Waily neighbourhood when it gave way in the early hours of the morning.

Search and rescue workers pulled the body of a woman from the rubble and were looking for other survivors, he said.

People were also asked to leave surrounding buildings because of structural concerns.

Bulldozers and diggers were still lifting debris at the scene on Friday afternoon. A neighbouring building had lost part of a wall, exposing the interior of an apartment.

Building collapses are common in Egypt, where poor construction and lack of maintenance is widespread in shantytowns, poor city neighbourhoods and rural areas.

The country’s government has tried to crack down on illegal building in recent years after decades of lax enforcement, but the capital still contains entire neighbourhoods of unlicensed red brick apartment buildings and shantytowns.