One Palestinian was killed on Wednesday night as a smuggling tunnel under the borderline between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt collapsed, witnesses and rescue workers said.

A local worker was pulled out dead after the tunnel collapsed, the witnesses in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah said.

According to rescue workers at a Rafah town hospital, the worker was suffocated to death inside the collapsed tunnel. No other injuries were reported.

The incident is the fourth in a week. The latest fatalities raise the death toll from disasters of the underground business to111 since Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

On Tuesday, a Palestinian was suffocated to death in a tunnel collapse. On Monday afternoon, rescue teams pulled out seven burnt bodies of Palestinians following a fuel leak that caused fire inside one of the underground tunnels.

Four Palestinians were killed on Sunday in an explosion under the borderline between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Hundreds of tunnels were built to transport essential goods and products, including fuel and livestock, to the besieged Gaza Strip from Egypt.

The tunnels are easy to collapse as being dug in Rafah's sandy soil. Electric shocks inside the passageways, frequent Israeli raids and Egypt's fighting against smuggling also contribute to the deaths.

(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2009)