Egypt to evacuate area hit by killer landslide

Digging continued on Sunday in search for survivors or bodies after some 33 people were killed and 23 injured when a massive rockslide hit a crowded Cairo shanty town on Saturday, sending rocks and boulders crashing down on dozens of houses.

The Egyptian state news agency MENA said parts of the area were being evacuated because new cracks had been seen in the cliff face.

Several officials, including Cairo Governor, also told state TV that plans are underway to evacuate residents of the shanty town.

Tumbling rocks destroyed many buildings in the Manshiyet Nasser shanty town in eastern Cairo near the Moqattam plateau, its close-packed houses and narrow alleys huddled at the foot of cliffs beside a highway.

Dozens of police and rescue workers were sent to the scene, backed up by fire engines, ambulances and sniffer dogs, but locals were enraged at what they saw as an inadequate government response to the disaster.

Hundreds of weeping, yelling residents gathered round the cordoned-off site, cursing local authorities and saying they had relatives and friends trapped beneath the rubble.

"You've just got your hands in your pockets, you're not doing anything!" one man yelled at police standing nearby.

"If it were the shura council (upper house of parliament), you'd have had the army in by now!" shouted another.

Lawmaker Haidar Bardadi told Egyptian television he expected the toll to rise drastically, saying 35 homes had been crushed and between 150 and 200 people were trapped beneath the rubble.

Rescuers used their bare hands to shift debris in a desperate bid to search for victims.