CAIRO: Five Egyptians died, including a five-year-old girl, after their residential building collapsed Monday, in the area of Boulaq Abou Elela, west of Cairo. Seven others were injured and taken to a nearby hospital for medical attention. The building had an renovation order for the year 1993 but was never put to action. The building number 4 in Othman Rashed Street was in dire need for restoration and suffered from negligence, which helped deteriorate the state of the building that housed a number of families, and raised the death toll among its residence. Residents said they plan to protest outside the state TV building later on Monday for the “lack of attention by officials who chose to ignore the restoration and maintainance of the building,” adding that the death toll and injuries are the responsibility of the state. The dead bodies are being salvaged from the rubble and are to be buried according to Islamic customs. The residents of the surrounding buildings say the Civil Protection Agency that is charged with such renovations, will face a difficult task, as bringing heavy machinery to look for missing bodies, could put the surrounding fragile buildings in danger, hence searching with smaller, less efficient tools might take longer time, narrowing the window of hope to finding any remaining survivors. Residential buildings in cramped areas such as the one that collapsed in Boulaq, are built tightly together to save space, joining most of their fates together. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/hjmZw Tags: Buildings, Cairo, Collapse, Dead Section: Egypt, Latest News
