CAIRO: A security official says the death toll from a weekend rockslide that buried a shantytown on Cairo’s outskirts has reached 75.
The official told The Associate Press Thursday that rescue workers recovered more bodies overnight from under mammoth rocks that sheared off a cliff above the Manshiyet Nasser slum. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Mohamed Soltan, head of the central emergency administration at the Ministry of Health, puts the number of deaths at 69 with 58 injured. Only 13 of the injured are still in hospitals, he said. Sixty-one bodies were released to their respective families, while eight more remain at the morgue.
The state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reports that about 112 families have been moved from the shantytown to new homes after Saturday’s rock slide.
First Lady Suzanne Mubarak said that she’s personally responsible for providing each of the families displaced by the disaster with an apartment.
“We were supposed to deliver 2,000 housing units, as part of the Manshiyet Nasser development project, next week, like we always did every Ramadan since 2000, the first lady told the attendees of the Egypt Red Crescent conference. “But fate beat us and turned the joyful occasion we wait for every year into a disaster.
The densely populated slum was built by rural migrants seeking work in Cairo. It is located beneath unstable limestone cliffs. There are fears many more bodies could be found in the rubble.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health confirmed that there are no infectious diseases in the in area or the emergency relief camps.
Amr Qandil, the head of the Infectious Disease Department at the ministry, said that many precautionary measures were taken in Duweiqa. At the camps, water and food are regularly tested to make sure they are valid, in addition to vaccinations offered to children and adults, he said. Medical teams are also available around the clock. – Additional reporting by AP
