2 days ago
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Isabella Kwai and Jason Gutierrez
A landfill in the central Philippines collapsed on Jan 8, killing at least three people and injuring a dozen others, according to local officials.
Rescue workers were searching for 35 other people who were missing, many of whom remained trapped under the debris, the Cebu City Police Department said in a social media post on the night of Jan 9. Police added that 12 people had been rescued so far.
The disaster struck after 4pm on Jan 9 at a private landfill in Binaliw, a mountainous area on the outskirts of Cebu City in the central Philippines. Photos and videos of the area showed a landslide of trash on top of some structures. Nestor Archival, the Mayor of Cebu City, said that it had involved 110 employees at the landfill.
A 22-year-old woman died and the body of a 25-year-old was recovered on Jan 9, Mr Archival said in social media posts. The third person who died was not identified by police.
The three dozen people who remained missing on Jan 9 were workers at the facility, he said.
He told reporters at the scene that rescuers had been able to reach some trapped survivors.
The city had deployed 300 people to help with the rescue and response, according the main national disaster management centre in the Philippines, and areas had been set up for families waiting for news of missing relatives.
“They said those trapped are calling for help, so there is a possibility that my brother is still there,” Ms Michelle Lumapas, whose brother works in the landfill’s engineering department, said in an interview with ABS-CBN, a Philippine news outlet.
Local officials said they were investigating the cause of the collapse.
Mr Archival told reporters on Jan 9 that an initial investigation had suggested a link to a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that shook Cebu province in September.
A large volume of rain, he said, had seeped into the underground of landfill and weakened its foundation.
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