Death toll from landslide at Uganda garbage dump rises to 17

The death toll from a landslide at a vast garbage dump in Uganda's capital, Kampala, has risen to 17, a Red Cross official said on Sunday, as rescue workers continued to dig for survivors.

After torrential rain in recent weeks, a huge mound of garbage at the city's only landfill site collapsed late on Friday, crushing and burying homes on the edge of the site as residents slept.

Four more bodies were retrieved on Sunday, bringing the total to 17, Irene Nakasita, spokesperson for the Uganda Red Cross, said.

Earlier on Sunday, police spokesperson Patrick Onyango put the death toll at 13, up from eight that the Kampala Capital City Authority had reported on Saturday.

President Yoweri Museveni said in a statement that he had directed the prime minister to coordinate the removal of all those living near the garbage dump.

The government has also started investigations into the landslide's cause and will take action against any officials found to have been negligent, the Inspectorate of Government said on X.

Volunteers remove rubble to search for the bodies of residents killed by a landslide due to heavy rainfall in a landfill known as Kiteezi that serves as garbage dumping site, in the Lusanja village, outside Kampala, Uganda August 10, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Abubaker Lubowa)

At least 14 people have been rescued so far, Onyango said, adding that more could still be trapped, but the number is unknown.

Tents have been set up nearby for those displaced by the landslide, the Red Cross said.

The landfill site, known as Kiteezi, has served as Kampala's sole garbage dump for decades and had turned into a big hill. Residents have long complained of hazardous waste polluting the environment and posing a danger to residents.

Efforts by the city authority to procure a new landfill site have dragged on for years.

There have been similar tragedies elsewhere in Africa from poorly managed mountains of municipal garbage.

In 2017, at least 115 people were killed in Ethiopia, crushed by a garbage landslide in Addis Ababa. In Mozambique, at least 17 people died in a similar 2018 disaster in Maputo.