EGYPT: Seven people die in Cairo building collapse

Record ID: 216166

  • Title: EGYPT: Seven people die in Cairo building collapse
  • Date: 15th July 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BOY WHO SURVIVED BUILDING COLLAPSE, RAGHEB, SAYING: "I woke up, Shaaban woke me up, and I found myself stuck between the rocks, Shaaban was screaming to call out to people. I was totally buried, it was Mr. Morsi who pulled me out and then called to the other people to take us out, and Mustafa was stuck."
  • Embargoed: 30th July 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVACSFG5UU52VC3JHECYIH0BGD5A
  • Story Text: Seven bakery workers die when the roof of the building they were sleeping in collapsed on top of them in Cairo's historic Islamic quarter.
    Seven bakery workers died early on Wednesday (July 14) when the roof of the building they were sleeping in collapsed on top of them in the historic Islamic quarter of Cairo.
    The area's residents said they were awoken by a loud noise when the roof fell in on a one floor structure reportedly used by over ten people who worked in a local bakery, among them children.
    Rescue workers struggled to navigate the narrow alleyways of the largely poor neighbourhood, and local residents pulled many of the victims out of the rubble before the authorities arrived.
    Zeihhom Hussein Morsi, who lives nearby, said he rushed to the scene of the disaster as fast as he could.
    "We heard at around three in the morning, a big noise in the area, and by the time we ran here, and we came to find out what happened, we saw a big piece [of the roof] hanging in the air, and there were people who had been sleeping underneath it, bakery workers who had no place to live," he said.
    Building collapses are common in Egypt because of lax building standards and poor maintenance. At least six people were killed earlier this month when a four-storey residential building collapsed in Cairo's Shubra neighbourhood.
    Wednesday's building collapse happened in the Darb al-Ahmar area, where numerous historically important mosques are located.
    A boy who works in the bakery said that he was woken by his friend to find himself buried in the rubble.
    "I woke up, Shaaban woke me up, and I found myself stuck between the rocks, Shaaban was screaming to call out to people. I was totally buried, it was Mr. Morsi who pulled me out and then called to the other people to take us out, and Mustafa was stuck," said Ragheb, who did not give his age.
    Because of its historical importance, Darb Al-Ahmar has been the site of a renovation project by the Agha Khan Development Network. Many local residents said that construction work carried out on local antiquities sites has led to fragile local housing being damaged.
    Another recent building collapse has led to other local residents being left homeless.
    In a nearby alleyway a number of people have been sleeping the street for several days after the upper floor of their apartment building caved in. They blamed work being carried out on a nearby building.
    Tarek Abdullah Amin said that all they wanted was a safe place to live.
    "We want, for these elderly people sitting here, to have a safe place to live in, a place like one that anyone else has, in safety. In the end we only have what God decides," he said.
    The Egyptian authorities have said that an investigation has been launched into today's building collapse.
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