- Title: EGYPT: RESCUE WORKERS CONTINUE TO RECOVER BODIES FROM COLLAPSED APARTMENT BLOCK.
- Date: 1st November 1996
- Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (NOVEMBER 1, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV: SITE OF COLLAPSED BUILDING 0.05 2. GV: WORKERS SEARCHING FOR BODIES 0.10 3. GV: DOGS SNIFFING FOR HUMAN SCENT 0.15 4. GV: JAPANESE WORKERS USING FIBRESCOPE PROBE TO SEARCH FOR BODIES 0.21 5. LV: HEAVY EQUIPMENT REMOVING RUBBLE 0.30 6. GV: BODY BEING
- Embargoed: 16th November 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
- Reuters ID: LVA4XLMJ1EQEM1H94QDCRQZG116T
- Story Text: INTRO: Rescue workers searching the rubble of a collapsed apartment block in Cairo have found the bodies of several more people, including two children, bringing the number of confirmed dead to 63.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Egyptian army officers said on Saturday (November 2) that rescue workers had retrieved 63 bodies from the apartment block and that it was unlikely that any more bodies would be found.
On Friday (November 1), a Japanese team managed to insert a "fibrescope" probe through the debris and into a small chamber at the back of the 11-storey building, which collapsed last Sunday (October 27). The team did not find any bodies.
A Hungarian team brought sniffer dogs to the site and were waiting on Friday for Egyptian soldiers to clear shafts for the dogs to get a more accurate fix on any bodies.
Throughout Friday a total of 11 bodies were discovered by rescue workers and Egyptian army soldiers, including five in the afternoon.
Paramedics rushed the bodies, wrapped in blankets, away from the scene while distraught relatives pleaded to be told who they were.
It is believed that the building, which was located in the upscale Heliopolis district of the city, collapsed because workers cut away some of the pillars during modifications to the offices of a banking organisation.
The government, reacting to public outrage, has toughened the penalties for breaking building regulations.
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