Cairo:A total of 43 people were killed in a massive weekend rock-slide in Egypt which flattened homes in a north Cairo shantytown, a security official said today, more than 48 hours after the tragedy.

He said that 43 bodies had been recovered from under the boulders, while the official MENA news agency quoted the interior ministry as saying that 57 people had been injured. Giant boulders crushed dozens of homes in the shantytown of Manshiyet Nasser in the early morning landslide on Saturday, burying whole families under the rubble.

Egypt s mufti -- the leader of its Sunni Muslim faithful -- Sheikh Ali Gomaa said that all who died were "martyrs," the independent daily Al-Masri Al-Youm reported. Television reports suggested that as many as 500 people could be missing as rescuers continued in a desperate race to find survivors of the tragedy, which struck in the first week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Rescue efforts are proceeding slowly as authorities break the giant rocks into pieces small enough to be lifted from the area. 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. Some survivors refused to go to tents put up by the authorities, insisting instead on being given proper new homes. Others, such as 60 year old Abdallah Salem whose home was unscathed by the rock-slide, feared further rocks tumbling down. "We re afraid to sleep in our homes for fear that our fate might be the same as that of our neighbours," Salem told the independent Al-Badil newspaper.
Source : PTI