Kiteezi Landfill Tragedy: Death toll hits 26 after six more bodies recovered, 35 still missing

Police in Kampala have revealed that the death toll from the tragic garbage collapse at Kiteezi landfill site in Kawempe South Division has now reached 26 with six new bodies recovered from the dumpsite on Wednesday afternoon.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Mr Patrick Onyango told journalists on Wednesday that at least 120 who were displaced people by the August 10 tragedy are currently sheltered in a temporary tent at a nearby school with at least 39 persons reported missing.

“Out of the 39 [missing], 35 are community members or residents and four are garbage collectors who came from various places. Today, the recovery team retrieved two (02) dead bodies by 1300 hours. The total number now is 26,” Mr Onyango said in the afternoon, adding that the causality toll is still expected to grow.

Onyango explained that based on preliminary police findings, at least 33 homes are suspected to have been buried by the collapse but he emphasized that “We are still verifying. The figure may go up or less.”

In a related development, Mr Onyango said that police are holding five suspects arrested last night after they tried to impersonate as victims of the tragic incident. “They are detained at Kiteezi Police Station on charges of impersonation,” he said.

The 36-acre (14-hectare) landfill, established in 1996 as a dump site for all garbage collected across metro Kampala Saturday collapsed killing nine people on the spot. However, after the fourth day, the number of fatalities has more than tripled with over 40 still trapped in the site.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja said 18 people had been rescued from the landfill since August 10. “We’re looking into plans of how we can resettle some of these affected people. We also have medium-term plans of stabilizing the Kiteezi landfill so that another tragedy does not occur,” Nabbanja said.

She also revealed that government is moving towards enforcing a measure that will require urban dwellers to sort garbage from their homesteads before it is collected by trucks for transportation to dump sites.