In pictures: Cairo rockslide

Residents were in a state of shock and disbelief as they surveyed the scene of devastation where their homes once stood.

The tragedy was too much for this woman, who collapsed into the arms of other residents in the Duwayqa district of Cairo.

The simple, brick-built homes which stood in the path of the falling boulders were utterly destroyed.

Some residents could only gaze helplessly at the huge rocks lying where houses had once stood.

But others could not wait for the cranes and bulldozers to arrive and tried to clear the rubble with their bare hands.

Cairo policemen joined residents in trying to lift the rocks from people's flattened homes and reach survivors.

Another officer used a sniffer dog to try to locate survivors or bodies under the piles of rubble.

Feelings were running high among distraught relatives who thought more could be done to reach survivors.

One resident said the sound of the rockslide felt like an earthquake hitting the town.

It was not clear what had triggered the disaster, but there have been other rockslides from the same hills.

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