The death toll from a garbage landslide in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, has risen to 23, including five children, according to a city official on Monday.
According to the area’s resident commissioner, Yasin Ndide, the tragic incident, which was the result of heavy downpours, occurred on Saturday in the northern Kampala district of Kiteezi. Unidentified numbers of people and livestock are believed to have been buried in mountains of waste at the landfill.
“The latest confirmed dead are 23,” Kampala city authority spokesman Daniel Nuweabine told AFP, adding that the search for survivors was still ongoing.
“Working with other agencies, we are assessing the situation and helping all those in distress,” he added.
Excavators have been churning through the huge rubbish mounds as the desperate search for survivors over the weekend.
The tragedy was termed as a “national disaster” by city mayor Erias Lukwago, who warned over the weekend that “many, many more could be buried in the heap as the rescue operation continues.”
He had expressed concerns about the dangers of overflowing rubbish from the 36-acre (14-hectare) dump, which was created in 1996 and receives practically all garbage collected in Kampala.
President Yoweri Museveni said he had asked the army’s special forces to assist with the search and rescue mission, adding he wanted to know who permitted people to live near such a “potentially hazardous and dangerous heap”.
More than 350 people were killed by mudslides in Mount Elgon, eastern Uganda, in February 2010.
