EGYPT: UP TO 100 PEOPLE MISSING AFTER 11-STOREY RESIDENTIAL BUILDING COLLAPSES IN CAIRO SUBURB

Record ID: 521214

  • Title: EGYPT: UP TO 100 PEOPLE MISSING AFTER 11-STOREY RESIDENTIAL BUILDING COLLAPSES IN CAIRO SUBURB
  • Date: 27th October 1996
  • Summary: HELIOPOLIS, CAIRO (OCTOBER 27 AND 28, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) (OCTOBER 27) 1. GV: NIGHT SCENES COLLAPSED BUILDING/ RESCUERS WORKING AT SCENE (2 SHOTS) 0.20 2. MCU: NEIGHBOUR MAGDI ABDEL FOUTTOUH SAYS: "ALL OF A SUDDEN WE HEARD A SOUND LIKE A BOMB AND THEN SAW DUST. THEN WE HEARD WHAT SOUNDED LIKE PEOPLE CRYING FOR HELP" (ARABIC) 0.30 3. GV/MV: RESCUE WORKERS AT SCENE; CHAINSAW STARTED (3 SHOTS) 0.49 4. SCU: INTERIOR MINISTER HASSAN EL ALFI/ PRIME MINISTER KAMAL EL GANZOURI/ CAIRO GOVERNOR OMAR ABDEL AKHER/ AND UNIDENTIFIED INTERIOR MINISTRY OFFICIAL (LEFT TO RIGHT) AT THE SCENE 0.59 (OCTOBER 28) 5. GV: NIGHT SCENES RESCUE WORKERS CARRYING COVERED BODY FROM SCENE 1.07 6. GV: MECHANICAL DIGGER AT WORK IN RUBBLE (2 SHOTS) 1.18 7. GV: BODY TAKEN FROM SCENE 1.29 8. GV: RESCUE WORKER SPEAKING TO TRAPPED VICTIM VIA ULTRA SONIC EQUIPMENT SAYING (ARABIC) " HOW MANY ARE THERE WITH YOU ? TWO,THREE,?.... WE'LL BE THERE AS FAST AS WE CAN" (ARABIC) 1.37 9. GV: FURTHER VIEWS OF RESCUE WORKERS REMOVING RUBBLE 1.46 11. MV: RELATIVES CRYING 1.50 12. GV: FURTHER VIEW OF COLLAPSED BUILDING WITH RESCUE WORK CONTINUING 1.53 13. MCU: DR TALA'AT EZZEDINE SAYING: "IN THE FIRST HALF HOUR WE TOOK OUT 17 INJURED AND TWO DEAD, A GIRL ABOUT 19 WAS HAVING A BATH WHEN THE BUILDING COLLAPSED. SHE BROKE SOME BONES AND WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL" (ARABIC) 2.11 14. LV/GV: DAY SCENES OF COLLAPSED BUILDING; OFFICIAL DIRECTING MECHANICAL DIGGER AMONG RUBBLE (2 SHOTS) 2.26 15. MCU: DISTRAUGHT WOMAN LOOKING ON NEXT TO HELMETED SECURITY MAN 2.30 16. GV/MV: DOG SNIFFING FOR VICTIMS/ COLLAPSED BUILDING/ WORKERS RFEMOVING CORPSE FROM RUBBLE (5 SHOTS) 3.16 17. MCU: DOCTOR SAYED MOHAMED FROM CAIRO'S MUNIERA HOSPITAL SAYS:"I THINK IT WILL TAKE TWO DAYS MORE, THREE DAYS MORE DO GET EVERYBODY OUT" (ENGLISH) 3.25 18. TV: AMBULANCE LEAVING WITH CORPSE 3.31 19. GV: DIGGING CONTINUES/ ONLOOKERS (2 SHOTS) 3.45 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 11th November 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HELIOPOLIS, CAIRO, EGYPT
  • City:
  • Country: Egypt
  • Reuters ID: LVA24WW2MVIZS4ZKWQ012KNJNQLA
  • Story Text: INTRO: Up to 100 people were feared dead after an 11-storey residential building collapsed in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------- Emergency services said the building collapsed late on Sunday (October 24) night, and that by Monday morning five bodies had been taken from the wreckage and a further 15 survivors were in hospital.

    Rescue workers heard voices after they had blasted a hole in a huge concrete slab that covered what used to be the front of the building.

    Workers immediately stopped using the bulldozers and heavy machinery for fear of bringing more rubble onto the victims. Twenty survivors had been pulled out, said police.

    Only a corner of the 25-year-old apartment block remained standing. A policeman at the scene said rescue workers thought this was where there might be further survivors.

    The 11-storey apartment building was only two blocks awasy from the home of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

    Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri, Interior Minister Hassn El Alfi and the Governor of Cairo Omar Abdel AKher visited the site late on Sunday evening to get a first-hand impression of what had happened.

    "All of a sudden we heard a sound like a bomb and then dust.

    Then we heard what sounded like people crying for help," said Magdi Abdel Fouttouh who lives in the neighbouring block.

    Doctor Tala'at Ezzedine of Manshiyet Bakry hospital said some of the victims appeared to have been suffocated by dust. He added that one of the survivors appeared to have been saved because she was having a bath when the disaster struck, and was protected by the metal tub.

    A porter of the building said he thought renovation work in one of the apparements may have affected the infrastructure and caused the building to crumble.

    Local residents said the landlord had erected seven illegal floors and that the local council had been demanding their removal since 1991.

    Soaring real estate prices have often pushed landlords to add extra floors on top of their property, usually illegally.


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