Four dead in Sanaa hotel collapse

A hotel near the Yemeni capital Sanaa's historical district has collapsed, killing four people and leaving another three wounded, medical sources and local media said on Tuesday.

Rescuers from the civil defence department were searching through the debris to try to find survivors, eyewitnesses told AFP.

The accident happened at the Thuraya hotel, a four-storey building constructed in traditional flat-roofed style.

The reason for the collapse was not immediately known, but residents said the building was old and that the city has been drenched with four days of heavy rain.

Medics told AFP that the bodies of four people had been found in the rubble and three injured people were taken to the hospital, a count that was also reported by local media.

Sanaa is under the control of the Iran-backed Huthi rebels who have seized the city and much of the north in a five-year war that pits them against the government and a Saudi-led military coalition.