23 people have died so far in the Ugandan capital Kampala due to a pile of garbage. A local official confirmed this information on Monday. Local time on Saturday in Kaiteji North Kampala District, piles of waste fell due to heavy rains. As a result, many people and livestock were buried under the piles of garbage. This information was given in a report of the news agency AFP.
Kampala local authority spokesman Daniel Nuebin told AFP news agency that 23 people had been confirmed dead so far. He said that the rescue work is still going on there.
He said, working with other agencies, we are assessing the situation and helping those affected. Yasin Daed, the resident commissioner of that city, said that five of the victims were children.
The city’s mayor, Arias Lukwago, described the incident as a “national disaster”. He had earlier warned that rescue operations were underway. It is feared that many more people may be trapped there.
He had earlier warned about the 36-acre (14 hectare) landfill, established in 1996. He expressed concern about the danger posed by the excess garbage there. Almost all the garbage collected in Kampala is dumped there.
Meanwhile, President Museveni said he ordered the deployment of special forces of the army to assist in the rescue and search operations. He also wanted to know who ordered people to live near such dangerous and garbage dumps.
Parts of Uganda and many parts of East Africa, including Ethiopia, have been hit by heavy rains. Last month, a devastating landslide in a remote mountainous area of southern Ethiopia killed nearly 250 people. Earlier in February 2010, more than 350 people were killed in a landslide at Mound Elgon in eastern Uganda.
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