19 dead after Uganda rubbish dump landslide

By AFP
August 12, 2024
People gather as volunteers search to retrieve the bodies of residents killed by a landslide due to heavy rainfall in the Lusanja village, outside Kampala, Uganda on August 10, 2024. — Reuters

KAMPALA: 19 people, including five children are confirmed dead after a landslide at a huge garbage dump in the Ugandan capital Kampala, a senior official said on Sunday, amid claims the site was a disaster waiting to happen.

Advertisement

Local media said homes, people and livestock were buried in mountains of waste at the landfill in the northern Kampala district of Kiteezi on Saturday after a collapse caused by heavy downpours.

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”.

Advertisement