Cairo - The number of people confirmed dead as a result of Saturday's rockslide in Cairo reached 75 and is feared likely to climb, six days after hundreds of tons of limestone came crashing down upon the Doweiqa neighbourhood, Egyptian security sources said.

On Saturday, eight rocks, weighing between 100 and 500 tons, separated from the cliff face and crashed down on some 35 houses lying at the foot of Moqattam hill in a massive shanty town Manshiet Nasser on the edge of the Egyptian capital.

According to the Middle East News Agency (MENA), hundreds of Doweiqa citizens have settled down in apartments provided for them by the government after Saturday's rockslide.

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

Clashes between residents and rescue workers have been common, as residents express anger over what they consider an inadequate response to the disaster.

Rescue workers however have faced the challenge of using large machinery in very narrow streets to remove debris, with some workers obliged to work mostly by hand.

Meanwhile, the government has charged that previous warnings to Doweiqa residents of imminent catastrophe had been ignored, with residents refusing to move into substitute apartments provided for them.

Residents deny snubbing the government's offer, saying they agreed to move, but extreme poverty forced people to live in shanty towns instead of paying rents for the alternative dwellings that they could not afford.

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

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

In 1994, 30 people were killed in a similar accident in the Manshiet Nasser area. (dpa)