Rockslide: Accusing Gov’t Of Negligence After Victims Exceeded 31 Killed, 35 Injured

The number of victims of the huge rock collapse at Al-Doweeqa slum area east of Cairo has increased to 31 dead people and 35 injured according to security and medical sources.

 

“The armed forces sent number of rescue units to the area to help in lifting the dead and injured people from under the rubble, and the authorities evacuated some homes in the area for the fear of another collapse of rock masses,” Middle East News Agency reported.

 
Earlier, the authorities sent many police forces and rescue units, in addition to the firefighting vehicles and police dogs, but the angry people complained that the response of the government was not enough in facing this disaster.

“Many of people are buried under the rubble, and the rescue operations are facing a great difficulty because of the stability of huge masses of rocks above the destroyed houses,” security sources said, adding that the rugged area near Al- Mokattam does not allow the entry of big equipments for lifting large rocks or crumbling them in some parts of the scene.

 
On the other hand, the Middle East News Agency said that the authorities sent for lifters from contracting companies to help in lifting the rock masses.

The agency said that initial estimates indicate that the number of houses that were exposed to the rockslide reached 30 houses.