In the heart of Tanzania's economic metropolis, Dar es Salaam, scores of people were trapped beneath a fallen structure, and rescuers were using their bare hands, drills and sledgehammers to get to them.

As people were shopping in Kariakoo, the busiest market in East Africa, a multi-story structure collapsed, killing at least one person, according to Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa.

Alongside excavators, hundreds of people, including army rescuers, pawed through the rubble heaps in search of survivors.

The Tanzania Red Cross Society reported on X that at least 56 individuals had been saved.

Witnesses told the Citizen newspaper that the building started expanding its underground business space on Friday before it collapsed a day later.

Dar es Salaam, a port city on the Indian Ocean coast and home to more than 5 million people, is rapidly expanding, and is one of the world’s fastest growing cities, according to the World Bank.

In 2013, a 16-storey building collapsed in Dar es Salaam and killed 34 people.