Building collapse in war-damaged Syria city kills 16

A building collapsed in Syria's war-damaged second city of Aleppo, killing 16 people including children, with the search for survivors extending into the night.

Much of Aleppo was destroyed during Syria's conflict that began nearly 12 years ago and left many of the remaining structures in a decrepit state.

"The number of victims of the residential building collapse... has risen to 16 dead," said the state news agency.

A war monitor said they were Syrians who had been displaced during the war.

Four people were rescued alive from the rubble, saying they were injured.

A Kurdish news agency reported five children were among the dead. One of them was an infant, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

According to the interior ministry, the five-storey building was home to seven families. Locals said about 35 people lived there.

Buildings in Aleppo, Syria's pre-war commercial hub, often collapse due to the dilapidated infrastructure as well as little oversight to ensure safety of new construction projects, some built illegally.

A police source said that the building, in the city's Sheikh Maksoud neighbourhood, had collapsed "due to a water leak" in the foundations.

The neighbourhood is predominantly inhabited by Syrian Kurds who are under the authority of the People's Protection Units militia, part of the Kurdish authorities' de facto army.

Many of those forced from their homes had to move into buildings that are structurally unsound, resulting in relatively frequent collapses.