At least 10 people killed in Cairo building collapse
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Your support makes all the difference.A five-story building collapsed in downtown Cairo before dawn Sunday, killing at least 10 people, an official on the scene said.
Two survivors have been rescued from the rubble of the residential building in Sayyida Zeinab district, Health Ministry official, Dr. Hashim Allam, told Egypt's Middle East News Agency.
The death toll is expected to rise substantially, according to rescue workers on the scene and friends and relatives of residents. It was not known how many people were in the building when it collapsed at 1:30 a.m. (2230 GMT).
Some 60 civil defense workers tackled the 6 meter (20 feet) high mound of concrete rubble, some using sound sensors to detect signs of life, others using heavy metal-cutters and earth-moving equipment.
Rescuers recovered the body of a resident called Ashraf Mohammed, who was found hugging his son Mohammed, and his wife Abeer. His other son, earlier reported as missing, was among the first bodies retrieved.
As bodies were retrieved, women in traditional headscarves often let out cries and collapsed into the arms of friends as the victim's identity became known.
"All the four together," the grieving women exclaimed, apparently after hearing that a whole family had been found dead.
One fortunate resident, Um Ahmed, said she and her husband and daughter left their top story apartment at the recommendation of neighbors who said there was dust emerging from the 1st floor.
"Five minutes after we fled, the building collapsed," Ahmed said.
The pro-government newspaper Al-Ahram said 25 people had left the building on Saturday when cracks appeared in its masonry. The city council ordered the landlord to repair the building.
Ahmed said that on Friday, each tenant paid 1,000 Egyptian pounds (dlrs 299) to the contractor for repairs to the building.
Among the 60 people waiting anxiously around the rubble was Gamal Ahmed Hassanein who had arrived Sunday morning to give private lessons to Huda Amin. He said he had found no trace of the girl or her family at the site or in a nearby hospital.
The chief ambulance officer on the scene, Mohammed el-Bahii, said that 10 bodies had been retrieved.
A number of buildings collapsed in Cairo during the 1990s, killing scores of people. The collapses were blamed on shoddy construction and illegal alterations and additions.
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