BEIRUT: Rescue workers dug with their bare hands Monday through the rubble of a collapsed seven-story building under heavy rains, pulling 26 bodies from the wreckage as hopes of finding survivors faded. The body of a 15-year-old girl was found a day earlier. Civil Defense, Red Cross and Army personnel were set to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday morning to evaluate their work and determine whether to extend the search for another 48 hours, as at least nine people remain missing.

At least 27 people were confirmed dead one day after the building collapsed Sunday in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of Fassouh, trapping some 40 people under a mountain of concrete.

“We can now say that 27 bodies and 12 injured people were pulled out of the rubble,” Raymond Khattar, director general of the Civil Defense, told The Daily Star.

In a statement after an emergency meeting at Baabda Palace, the government announced that it would do whatever was necessary to help the victims, their families and all other families who had been evacuated from adjacent buildings.

Cabinet sources said the government had agreed to provide LL30 million ($20,000) to every victim of the collapsed building in compensation and that the government had designated the Higher Relief Council to provide temporary housing to all the families affected by the collapse.

“The government will also provide compensation to all the non-Lebanese victims of the disaster,” the Cabinet source added.

Nearly 20 families also evacuated nearby buildings following the collapse, while many relatives and friends of the victims spent the night on Fassouh’s Atallah Street, praying and anxiously waiting for any news of their loved ones.

But from early Monday morning, chances of finding survivors grew slimmer as the remaining debris was comprised of stones and sand.

While they had not anticipated such a sudden collapse, neighbors and residents of the building who had not been inside said Monday that there had been warning signs of structural problems weeks earlier.

According to several accounts, a loud noise had been heard behind the building on New Year’s Eve, prompting the owner to place metal support poles on both sides of the building.

Residents said it had been too difficult for them to leave their homes and blamed the owner, Michel Saadeh, for not taking the appropriate measures to address the issue.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati established a committee Monday to investigate the reasons behind the collapse while Beirut Prosecutor George Karam also launched a probe into the incident. Judicial sources said that one person was being questioned as part of the investigation.

Meanwhile, speaking at a news conference Monday, Beirut’s Mayor Bilal Hamad said that the Municipality of Beirut was not responsible for the collapse of the building.

“We are concerned and we look into all complaints we receive at the municipality, but we are not an engineering company, we don’t have engineers,” said Hamad.

The mayor also called on residents of Beirut’s old buildings to immediately report any damage in their homes.

According to Hamad, a sandstone superstructure without adequate concrete had been used in the construction of many buildings in 1950s.

“All those old buildings are ticking bombs,” he added. Jamal Qaddoum, a Sudanese national who had been standing near the scene of the collapse, said three of his friends had lived on the second and fourth floors. “None of them survived, their bodies are now at the hospital,” he added.

The building had been home to more than 20 Sudanese, as well as people from the Philippines, Egypt and Jordan.

Samir Batbout, Sudan’s general consul to Lebanon, thanked Lebanese officials Monday for their help and the care provided to the Sudanese victims.

“Lebanese officials have been helping us without differentiating between Lebanese or foreign nationals,” Batbout added.

According to Batbout, the bodies of seven Sudanese had been pulled from the rubble, and five Sudanese who survived the disaster were being treated at the Hotel Dieu and Geitawi hospitals.

“Some 30 Sudanese had been inside when the building collapsed, some of them had been on a visit to friends who lived in the building,” said Batbout, adding that “it is a time for prayer for all the victims who died in this incident.”

While many figures expressed their appreciation of the rescue workers, a former member of Civil Defense who was watching the rescue efforts said that more could have been done.

“There are so many tools I’ve seen that were not used here to save people’s lives,” said the ex-Civil Defense member, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Rabih Ghosn, an engineer and project manager of a nearby construction site, said the close proximity of a newly constructed building could have contributed to building’s collapse.

“We should look into the buildings adjacent to it ... there is no gap at all between the newly constructed building and the seven-story building that came down,” said Ghosn.

“In my opinion, the newly constructed building added horizontal pressure on this building that had already been weak,” said Ghosn.

“Of course, this is not to say that the building which collapsed was in good shape ... the building whose rubble we see in front of us now wouldn’t have [collapsed] if it didn’t have its own problems,” he added.

Ghosn who manages the construction site 10 meters away from Saadeh’s building, said his project used special type polystyrene geofoam to separate the new building from the one adjacent to it. “We’ve placed 5-centimeter-wide geofoam to avoid direct proximity,” he explained.

According to Ghosn, it will be hard to carry out an effective investigation into the building’s collapse since its construction map probably no longer exists.