Hopes fade in Egypt rockslide disaster

HOPES FADE: The chance of finding survivors in the massive rockslide is diminishing. (AFP)

Hopes of finding survivors trapped under giant boulders began to fade on Sunday, a day after a massive rockslide flattened homes in a north Cairo shantytown, burying whole families under the rubble.

"There is little hope of finding anyone alive," an officer at the scene told newswire AFP. "The heat and dust are unbearable, the people standing here can hardly take it, let alone those trapped inside."

He said residents had been ordered to evacuate the area in order to tear down some of the homes to make way for cranes and heavy lifting machinery which had been unable to access the scene of Saturday's accident.

People hurriedly packed belongings and streamed toward nearby shelters provided by the government until further notice, an AFP correspondent said.

According to the health ministry, at least 31 people were killed and 47 injured in Saturday's accident after huge boulders, which one official said each weighed "hundreds of tonnes", had crushed some 35 homes.

Minister of social solidarity Ali Moselhi said 5,000 Egyptian pounds ($927) would be paid to the family of each person killed and one 1,000 pounds to each injured person, the official MENA news agency reported.

Earlier Sunday, furious residents of the impoverished and densely populated neighbourhood hurled stones and insults at authorities for "inefficient" rescue efforts.

"Residents are throwing stones at police and shouting at civil defence officials. They are angry because they say rescue efforts are slow and inefficient," a security official said on condition of anonymity.

Witnesses told AFP that they had been told to vacate the area and leave the rescue work to the experts, sparking anger among shocked and grieving residents.

Rescuers worked through Saturday night in a desperate race to find survivors of the tragedy, with some estimates putting the number of people still missing at 500.

The section of hill that broke away was estimated at 60 metres wide and 15 metres long.

Rescuers used their bare hands to shift debris in a desperate bid to find victims while specially trained dog handlers were deployed to try to locate survivors.

After an emergency meeting on Saturday evening, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said there would be a full review of housing settlements built throughout the country without construction permits, known as "ashwaeeyat".

"It was horrible, like an earthquake," said Farghali Gharib, who lost eight members of his family in the rockslide - five sisters, a sister-in-law and her two children.

The reason for the rockfall was not immediately known but angry residents said work had been taking place on the hill for several weeks, and that the authorities had been warned about the dangers.

Mohammed al-Sayyed, 80, too blamed the authorities. "They had said they would evacuate the entire neighbourhood in order to set up an industrial zone. We were happy about this... but they did no such thing."

Others said the area where the disaster struck had been declared unsafe but that alternative housing promised to them had been sold off.

The interior ministry said in a statement that plans were underway to evacuate the area in a month's time.

Most of the brick-built dwellings in the district have two floors and were put up without adhering to planning regulations and without construction permits.

The arid Moqattam hill is broken up by chalky rock slopes, and a number of unofficial housing areas are huddled at its base, along the length of a main road into the city.

Egypt has a poor track record of building safety often blamed on the flouting of construction regulations, particularly involving adding extra floors without permission.

IN PICS: Egypt rock slide tragedy
Arabian Business brings you dramatic images from the rock slide tragedy in northern Cairo.

Egypt rockslide survivors clash with police
Furious residents hurl stones and insults at authorities for 'inefficient' rescue.

31 killed in Cairo rockslide
UPDATE 2: Massive rockslide hits dozens of homes, hundreds trapped, death toll feared likely to rise.

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