5 construction workers die in Belgium school collapse

Five construction workers were killed on Friday in the city of Antwerp in Belgium when a school building under construction collapsed, reported Xinhua, quoting local media on Sunday.

The workers, four Portuguese and one Moldovan, were working on site when the building partially collapsed, according to Belga News Agency.

Nine other workers were injured and taken to hospital. Eight of them sustained serious injuries, but their condition remains stable for now.

King Philippe of Belgium visited the site on Saturday, accompanied by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.

Democo, a construction firm in charge of the construction works in Antwerp, promised on Saturday to do everything to find out what happened.

Roughly 57,000 foreign nationals worked in Belgium's construction sector in 2020, out of a total of more than 300,000 contracted and self-employed workers, according to data from the Construction Confederation.