AT least 16 people have been killed when a block of flats collapsed due to a water leak.

The death toll from the reportedly includes five children and rescuers at the scene in the Syrian city of Aleppo are stilling hunting for survivors.

The five-storey building, which was inhabited by seven families, had collapsed in the early hours of today.

A Kurdish news agency meanwhile said five children were among the dead.

All the dead Syrians had been forced to flee their original homes during more than a decade of fighting in the country.

Video footage shared on state television showed dozens of rescue workers toiling to unearth people from the rubble while bulldozers worked to clear the debris.

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Much of Aleppo was destroyed during Syria's nearly 12-year conflict, with many of the remaining buildings left in a decrepit state.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the victims were all displaced people from the northern district of Afrin.

The Sheikh Maksoud neighbourhood is predominantly inhabited by Syrian Kurds and governed by the People's Protection Units (YPG).

Many of its residents fled from Afrin after Turkey began an offensive there in 2018.

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Nearly half a million people have been killed in Syria's conflict since it broke out in 2011, and about half of its pre-war population has been displaced.

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