The death toll from a garbage dump that collapsed in Uganda's capital Kampala rose to 24 on Monday as rescuers with excavators continued to search for victims, city authorities said.
At least four children were among those killed in a landslide at the Kiteezi landfill site on Friday (August 9), police told reporters.
The collapse of the garbage pile is believed to have been triggered by heavy rainfall. Exact details of what happened are still unclear, but the city government said there was a “structural failure in the amount of garbage.”
Irene Nakasiita, a spokeswoman for the Uganda Red Cross, said hope appeared to have been lost of finding any survivors.
It is unclear how many people are still unaccounted for. The Kiteezi landfill is a sprawling dump in a poor hillside area that receives hundreds of garbage trucks every day. The city has been trying to decommission it since it was declared a waste dump several years ago.
The area is also a no-man's land in the city of 3 million people, attracting women and children who scavenge for plastic waste to sell. Some have even built permanent homes nearby.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has ordered an investigation into the disaster. In a series of posts on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter, he questioned why people were living near the unstable pile of rubbish.
“Who allows people to live near a potentially hazardous waste dump?” Museveni said, adding that the wastewater or sewage from the site was hazardous enough that no one should be allowed to live there. (ab/lt)
