At least 18 dead after landfill site collapses in Uganda’s capital

KAMPALA, Uganda– A huge landfill in Uganda’s capital collapsed, killing at least 18 people, the Red Cross said.

Fourteen other people were injured when the Kiteezi landfill, which serves as a waste dump for much of Kampala, collapsed on Friday night. At least two of the dead were children, the capital city of Kampala authority said in a statement.

The collapse is believed to have been caused by heavy rain. The precise details of what happened were unclear, but city officials said there was a “structural failure in the mass of waste.”

Uganda Red Cross spokesperson Irene Nakasiita said the death toll reached 18 after more bodies were recovered from the site on Sunday.

“The assessment has not yet been completed,” he said, adding that the rains were slowing the efforts of rescue teams digging through the piles of garbage.

The Kiteezi landfill is located on a steep slope in an impoverished area of ​​the city. Women and children who scavenge plastic waste for income frequently gather there, and some houses have been built near the dump.

For years, Kampala authorities have considered closing the site and operating a larger area outside the city as a waste dump. It was unclear why the plan has not taken off since 2016.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ordered an investigation into the incident, asking in a series of posts on social platform X why people were living so close to an unstable pile of garbage.

“Who allowed people to live near a bunch of potentially dangerous and dangerous things?” Museveni said, adding that the effluent from the site is dangerous enough that people should not live there.