A devastating garbage landslide in the Ugandan capital of Kampala has claimed the lives of 23 people, with the search for survivors still underway.
The disaster occurred on Saturday at the Kiteezi landfill in northern Kampala, where heavy rainfall caused a collapse of the waste mountains, burying people and livestock.
Daniel Nuweabine, spokesman for the Kampala city authority, confirmed the latest death toll on Monday, stating that rescue efforts are ongoing.
“We are working with other agencies to assess the situation and provide assistance to those in distress,” he added.
The victims include five children, according to Yasin Ndide, the area’s resident commissioner.
The tragedy has left the community in shock, with residents gathering at the site to watch the desperate search for survivors, overcome with grief and emotion.
The incident was described as a “national disaster” by city mayor Erias Lukwago, who warned at the weekend that “many, many more could be still buried in the heap as the rescue operation is ongoing”.
He had raised concerns over hazardous risks of overflowing waste from the 36-acre (14-hectare) landfill which was established in 1996 and takes in almost all garbage collected across Kampala.
President Yoweri Museveni said he had directed the army’s special forces to help in the search and rescue operation and demanded to know who allowed people to live near such a “potentially hazardous and dangerous heap”.
Several areas in Uganda and other parts of East Africa have been battered by heavy rains recently, including Ethiopia, the second most populous country on the continent.
Devastating mudslides in a remote mountainous area in southern Ethiopia last month killed around 250 people.
In February 2010, mudslides in the Mount Elgon region of eastern Uganda killed more than 350 people.
AFP
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