Cairo  - The number of people confirmed dead as a result of Saturday's rockslide in Cairo reached 48 by Monday, as frantic efforts to rescue survivors and recover the dead continued.

Hundreds of tons of limestone came crashing down on Saturday morning upon the Doweiqa neighbourhood of a massive shanty town known as Manshiet Nasser on the edge of the Egyptian capital.

Fifty-four survivors are being treated for their injuries.

Hundreds of Doweiqa citizens have settled down in temporary tents in Manshiet Nasser and Fostat public park, which has been turned into a short-term camp for Doweiqa's citizens, security forces told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

They are waiting for the government to provide apartments for them.

The Ministry of Social Solidarity and the Red Crescent helped to move people struck by the tragedy.

Meanwhile, the government said they had previously warned Doweiqa's citizens of the imminent catastrophe and provided them with substitute apartments, but they refused to move.

The citizens deny that they snubbed the government's offer, saying they agreed to move.

Extreme poverty made the people prefer to live in shanty towns than pay rent of 13 dollars per month.

Eight rocks, weighing between 100 and 500 tons, separated from the cliff face and crashed down on some 35 houses that lie at the foot of Moqattam hill in Manshiet Nasser.

An unknown number of people, possibly in the hundreds, were still trapped under the debris.

According to the independent al-Masry al-Youm newspaper, clashes between the police and residents broke out as they refused to remove six houses to make room for heavy lifting equipment that has been unable to enter the narrow streets, hampering efforts to remove the debris.

Some 1.3 million people live in the Moqattam area, mostly in extreme poverty.

Infrastructure and services are minimal, as housing developed informally when rural dwellers moved to the city over several decades.

In 1994, a similar accident occurred in the Manshiet Nasser area when a falling rock killed 30 people.

In 2007, the Egyptian government began a programme to upgrade and develop the ring of shanty towns around Cairo in which millions of Egyptians live. (dpa)