OSLO (Reuters) - Five people were missing on Wednesday after an apartment building in Norway's western coastal town of Aalesund collapsed, police said.
Media reports said about 21 people lived in the buildingand that several had been taken to hospital with minorinjuries.
Police told Reuters the chances of finding more survivorswere slim.
Police said a rock slide had contributed to the disaster.
"We early on knew that part of the mountain had come off,but whether that is the direct or indirect cause, isuncertain," police spokesman Magne Tjoennoey.
The apartment block, which was built against amountainside, moved several metres, several eyewitnesses toldpublic broadcaster NRK.
The lower floors of the building then caught fire,hampering rescue workers as they searched for those missing,police said.
"We are currently not inside the building, which iscrushed," Tjoennoey said, adding expert help was on the way.
A second rockslide in the area had prompted the police toevacuate a number of nearby buildings, the police told Reuters.
(Reporting by Aasa Christine Stoltz; Editing by CatherineEvans)
