The death toll from a landslide at a huge landfill in Kampala, Uganda's capital, has risen to 21, police said, as rescuers continued to search for survivors.
After heavy rains in previous weeks, a large amount of garbage at the city's only landfill collapsed on Friday night, crushing and burying homes on its edges while residents slept.
President Joveri Museveni said in a statement that he has ordered the Prime Minister to coordinate the removal of all those living immediately adjacent to the landfill.
The government has also launched an investigation into the cause of the landslide, and will take action against officials if it is proven that they were negligent, the government's Inspectorate said on the X network.
At least 14 people have been rescued so far, the police spokesman said, adding that more could be trapped under the garbage, but that their number is unknown.
Tents were set up nearby to help those who were left homeless by the landslide, the Red Cross said.
The landfill, known as Kitezi, has been the only one in Kampala for decades, and has turned into a big hill. The locals have been complaining for a long time about the hazardous waste that pollutes the environment and poses a danger to the locals.
Efforts by city officials to secure a new garbage disposal site have been dragging on for years.
In recent years, there have been several similar tragedies in Africa, caused by poor management of huge masses of municipal waste.
At least 115 people died in Ethiopia in 2017, when a landslide hit a landfill in Addis Ababa. In Mozambique, at least 17 people died in 2018 in a similar disaster in the capital Maputo.
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