The death toll from last week’s devastating landslide at a massive garbage dump in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, has climbed to 26, with 39 people still unaccounted for, police reported on Wednesday.
The tragedy struck late on Friday when a towering pile of waste at a landfill on the outskirts of Kampala collapsed, engulfing several homes while residents were asleep.
By Sunday, the confirmed death toll was 21.
Authorities have since recovered more bodies and have determined the number of missing individuals by interviewing survivors. The missing include 35 local residents and four garbage collectors, according to a police statement. Excavation efforts are ongoing as authorities work to locate those presumed dead.
The landslide was triggered by heavy rains that have recently pummeled parts of Uganda, causing widespread flooding and destruction.
Residents living near the landfill, which has been Kampala’s primary waste disposal site for decades, have long raised concerns about the hazardous waste contaminating the environment and endangering their lives.
This disaster echoes similar incidents in Africa, such as the 2017 catastrophe in Ethiopia, where a poorly managed municipal waste site collapse claimed at least 115 lives.