Large landfill collapse in Cebu kills 1, 38 missing

A 22-year-old woman was killed and 38 people are missing after a mountain of garbage collapsed at a landfill in the central Philippines on Thursday, authorities said.

Rescuers pulled 12 injured sanitation workers from the rubble of the Binaliw landfill in Cebu City and they were later taken to the hospital.

Many of the victims are believed to be landfill workers. The cause of the collapse remains unclear.

About 300 personnel from various government agencies and civil society have been deployed to the private landfill. Several excavators, ambulances and fire engines were also seen at the scene.

“All response teams are still fully engaged in search and retrieval efforts to locate the remaining missing persons,” Cebu City Mayor Nestor Achiwal said in a Facebook post on Friday.

Cebu City Councilman Joel Garganela said the incident may have happened suddenly but was most likely the result of improper waste management.

Garganella told local newspaper Freeman that operators had been digging up soil on the mountain and then piling the rubbish, creating another mountain of rubbish.

“This is not a sanitary landfill. It is already an open dump,” he said.

Landfills are common in major Philippine cities such as Cebu, a trade center and transportation gateway for the central Philippines island group of Visayas.

The Binaliw landfill covers approximately 10 hectares (25 acres).