A MASSIVE ROCKSLIDE IN A CAIRO SLUM Saturday has buried untold dozens under huge limestone boulders.

photos by AFP

The cliff had been weakened by the runoff of raw sewage from an illegal slum settlement at the top of the bluff.  Early Saturday morning a big section of the cliff broke away and tumbled down on another illegal settlement below.

Some of the boulders are as large as a small house and rescuers have been having a difficult time clearing away the rubble in the search for victims.  So far, they have found 51 bodies but they expect that several dozen remain.  Some estimates range as high as 500.

The rescuers are carefully breaking the larger boulders into smaller pieces that can be hauled away without causing still another slide.

Residents of the area are unhappy with the slow progress of the rescue and are showing their displeasure by pelting the rescuers with rocks, thus slowing it down even more.

Half of the more than 16 million people in Cairo are estimated to live in illegally constructed buildings without access to government services such as water and sewage treatment.

The AFP has a report HERE.

The Associated Press has this early video report:

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