Rescuers detected signs of life in an avalanche of garbage on Thursday that killed at least four workers and left more than 30 missing in a Philippine landfill, and plan to intensify search efforts, an official said yesterday.
Twelve workers have been rescued with injuries from the huge mound of garbage that collapsed among the low-slung buildings of a waste management facility in the village of Binaliw in Cebu City, authorities said.
Dozens of rescuers have raced against time to find more survivors in dangerous conditions in the rubble of twisted tin roofs, iron bars, and combustible heaps of garbage and debris.
Photo: EPA
“Authorities confirmed the presence of detected signs of life in specific areas, requiring continued careful excavation and the deployment of a more advanced 50-tonne crane, which is enroute with police escort,” Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival said. “Safety of responders remains paramount due to hazards such as unstable debris and acetylene risks, prompting adjustments to the security perimeter and controlled access.”
The four dead, including an engineer and a female office worker, were all employees of the landfill and waste management facility, which had a staff of 110, according to the mayor and police.
The list of victims on Friday included two dead and 36 missing, which increased yesterday to four dead, Archival said.
He did not provide an updated number of people missing.
The cause of the collapse of the mountain of garbage remains unclear, but a survivor said it happened in an instant without any warning despite fairly good weather at the time.
Jaylord Antigua, a 31-year-old office worker at the landfill, said the wall of garbage cascaded down and destroyed the administrative office he was in. He extricated himself with bruises on his face and arms by crawling in darkness in the rubble and debris.
“I saw a light and crawled toward it in a hurry, because I feared there will be more landslides,” Antigua said. “It was traumatic. I feared that it was my end, so this is my second life.”
It is unclear how the accident would affect garbage disposal in the landfill in Cebu, a bustling port city of nearly 1 million people that serves as a regional hub for trade, commerce and tourism.
Preparations “are also underway to manage the looming garbage collection issue,” Archival said.
Such landfills and open dumpsites have long been a source of safety and health concerns in the Philippines, especially in areas close to poor communities where many residents scavenge for junk and leftover food in the garbage heaps.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
RSS