“The Egyptian government and people affirm their full solidarity with the brotherly Iraq in this tragic incident,” the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The ministry said it hopes for the success of the ongoing strenuous efforts to rescue those stranded, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

Iraqi rescue workers have retrieved the bodies of four people from under the rubble and rescued six others, including women and children. Rescue operations are still ongoing.

Iraqi President Barham Saleh called for mobilising all efforts to save the people trapped under the rubble.

The landslide took place as sand dunes and rocks collapsed onto the shrine building, which is about 100 square metres large, Iraqi civil defence spokesman Nawas Sabah Shaker told AFP.

The rocks and sand started sliding because of the "saturation of the earthen embankment adjacent to the shrine", causing 30 percent of the area of the building to collapse, the civil defence told the Iraqi state news agency.