Kampala: In a major tragedy in Uganda’s Capital city Kampala, at least 18 people were killed and several others were injured after a vast landfill site collapsed. Reports suggested that fourteen people were injured when the Kiteezi landfill, which serves as a waste disposal site for much of Kampala, collapsed on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. As per the authorities, two of the dead were children.
Kampala Capital City Authority, in its statement, confirmed the incident. The collapse is believed to have been triggered by heavy rainfall. The precise details of what happened were unclear, but the city authority said there was a “structural failure in waste mass.”
Collapse Is Believed To Be Triggered By Heavy Rainfall
Irene Nakasiita, a spokeswoman for the Uganda Red Cross, said the toll reached 18 after more bodies were retrieved from the scene Sunday. “The assessment is not yet completed,” she said, adding that rainfall was slowing the efforts of rescue teams digging through heaps of trash.
The Kiteezi landfill is on a steep slope in an impoverished part of the city. Women and children who scavenge plastic waste for income frequently gather there, and some homes have been built close to the landfill.
For years, Kampala authorities have considered closing the site and commissioning a larger area outside the city as a waste disposal site. It was unclear why the plan failed to take off since 2016.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ordered an investigation into the incident, asking in a series of posts on the social platform X why people were living in close proximity to an unstable heap of garbage.
“Who allowed people to live near such a potentially hazardous and dangerous heap?” Museveni said, adding that effluent from the site is hazardous enough that people should not be living there.
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