At least 10 reported killed in Pakistan factory collapse

A factory building under construction on the outskirts of Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 10 workers and injuring dozens, officials said.

Rescue official Jam Sajjad Hussain said emergency teams were using heavy machinery to pull out bodies and survivors as dozens remained trapped under the rubble. Initial reports on the number of casualties put the number of dead at as many as 20.

"We have been informed that about 200 laborers were present inside the building when it suddenly collapsed," he said.

State-run Pakistani TV said rescuers transported 45 injured to different hospitals in the area. TV footage showed rescuers and residents scrambling to remove the rubble. A government official, Mohammad Usman, said rescuers were handling the situation with great care to try and save as many lives as possible.

The military said it was flying in a team of engineers and experts to Lahore to take part in the rescue.

The cause of the building collapse was not immediately clear. It comes more than a week after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit Pakistan, killing 273 people and damaging nearly 75,000 homes across the country.

Pakistan's construction sector suffers from poor oversight and developers frequently flout building codes.

In September 2012, 289 people burned to death in a fire at a garment factory in the southern city of Karachi. On the same day, a fire at a shoe factory in Lahore killed 25.

Al Jazeera and wire services