15 killed as hotel wall collapses in Peru wedding party

Officers and firefighters stand by a collapsed area of the Alhambra hotel in Abancay, Peru, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. Civil defense officials say the hotel wall collapsed during a wedding celebration, killing at least 15 people. (Abancay police via AP)

LIMA, Peru — A hotel wall collapsed during a wedding celebration in Peru, killing at least 15 people on Sunday, authorities said.

National civil defense chief Jorge Chavez said dozens of people who had been dancing were caught under the collapsing wall and a roof early Sunday at the Alhambra hotel in the Andean city of Abancay in southern Peru. He told RPP radio that at least 30 people had been pulled from the debris with injuries and were being treated at a nearby hospital.

The local civil defense head, Rusby Zela, said the city had been battered by five days of rains, and she said that led to the collapse.