KAMPALA (Reuters) – The number of people killed when a mountain of garbage collapsed in Uganda’s capital last week has risen to 35, 12 of whom were young people, police said on Friday.
At least 28 others are still missing.
The accident occurred late last Friday, when a large chunk broke off the mound of trash at the Kiteezi landfill on the northern outskirts of Kampala. Dozens of homes near the dump were buried while residents slept.
Nine more bodies have been retrieved since Wednesday, when 26 were reported dead.
Police said in a statement on the tragedy that it had been hard to identify some of the new bodies as they were in such bad shape.
The landslide followed torrential rains that have battered parts of the East African country in recent weeks, triggering extensive flooding and damage.
Residents near the landfill, which has for decades served as Kampala’s only waste dump, have long complained of hazardous waste polluting the environment and posing a danger.
Similar tragedies elsewhere in Africa from poorly managed mountains of municipal trash include a 2017 incident in Ethiopia in which at least 115 people were killed.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Alexander Winning and Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
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