  We show that if a sequence $M_n$ of closed aspherical $d$-dimensional
Riemannian manifolds with Ricci curvature uniformly bounded below and diameter
uniformly bounded above collapses, then for all large enough $n$, the
fundamental groups $\pi_1(M_n)$ have non-trivial finitely generated abelian
normal subgroups. In particular, the groups $\pi_1(M_n)$ cannot be
non-elementary hyperbolic.
