Rescuers combed through the rubble of a collapsed six-storey mall in Ghana on Thursday in an urgent search for survivors as the death toll climbed to nine and with 67 people so far rescued alive.

An 18-person search team from Israel was due in the West African nation later on Thursday to help with the rescue effort as Ghanaian authorities used concrete cutters, a crane and other equipment to clear away debris.

A six-storey shopping mall collapsed on Wednesday in the Ghanaian capital Accra and dozens of victims were feared trapped in the rubble, witnesses and an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

One employee at the scene who declined to be named estimated around 40 workers in the building when it collapsed, though he was not sure about the number of customers.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry delegation, headed by foreign ministry director general Haitham Joumaa, began on Saturday evacuating Lebanese expatriates in the Ivory Coast from Abidjan airport to the airport in Ghana’s capital Accra.

Joumaa informed the National News Agency in a telephone call from Abidjan airport that a Boeing 737 has been rented to transport 200 passengers to Accra over a two-phase operation.