Rockslide toll rises to 38

2008-09-08 10:29

Cairo - A total of 38 people were killed in a massive weekend rockslide in Egypt which flattened homes in a north Cairo shantytown, according to the latest toll given by the Health Ministry on Monday.

"The number of victims has risen to 38 dead and 57 wounded," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official MENA news agency.

Giant boulders crushed dozens of homes in the shantytown of Manshiyet Nasser in Saturday's landslide, burying whole families under the rubble.

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 occurred in the first week of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

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

- AFP