Uganda garbage landslide death toll rises to 34

The collapse at the landfill in the northern district of Kiteezi at the weekend buried people, homes and livestock in mountains of fetid waste.

An MP for the area has warned that the number of those missing could still rise.

"With the recovery of four bodies on Thursday, the death toll has reached 34," Kampala Metropolitan police spokesman Patrick Onyango told AFP.

The recovery of victims was continuing, he said, despite part of the landfill site flooding, preventing the use of excavators.

He added that one of the bodies discovered on Thursday was a man who had been missing since 2022 called Abdul Nasir.

With the discovery of the bodies, the total number of those missing has decreased to 35, from an earlier official toll of 39.

However, shadow foreign affairs minister Muwada Nkunyingi, who is also the area's representative in parliament, said: "There are more people missing compared to what police are reporting."

"From what the community members are saying, the dead could reach even 100 because since the tragedy we see people turning up looking for their loved ones, family members," he told AFP.

Excavators have been churning through the huge rubbish mounds, often during torrential downpours.

Kampala city mayor Erias Lukwago described the incident as a "national disaster".

He had previously warned about the risks of overflowing waste from the site, which was established in 1996 and takes in almost all garbage collected across Kampala.

Several areas in Uganda and other parts of East Africa have been battered by heavy rains recently.