Dozens still missing in Sri Lankan garbage collapse; 29 dead

MEETOTAMULLA, Sri Lanka: Rescuers were digging Monday through heaps of mud and trash that collapsed onto a clutch of homes near a Sri Lankan garbage dump, killing at least 29 people and possibly burying dozens more.

Hundreds had been living in the working-class neighborhood on the fringe of the towering dump in Meetotamulla, a town outside of Colombo, when a huge mound collapsed Friday night during a local New Year celebration, damaging at least 150 homes.

By Monday morning, authorities had pulled 29 bodies from beneath the debris, according to lawyer Nuwan Bopage, who has worked with locals to protest the dump. Authorities were unsure how many more could still be trapped, but about 30 people were still reported missing, Bopage said.

Soldiers were digging with backhoes and shovels, as relatives of the missing pointed out where their houses once stood amid coconut, mango and banana trees. Those homes now lay in piles of collapsed concrete walls encased in a wall of mud up to 25 feet (8 meters) high and mixed with plastic bags, broken glass and other trash. Bicycles and auto-rickshaws, the threewheeled vehicles used as local taxis, were crushed or lying topsy-turvy.

Rasika Sanjeewa, 41, his wife, two sons and a daughter had a narrow escape. Just as he stopped his auto-rickshaw and he and his family stepped to the ground, his daughter said the ground seemed to be moving beneath her feet.

“There was a strong wind from the side of the dump and my daughter shouted the mound is splitting. Suddenly one slice of the mound came crashing down. The whole area was shaking,” Sanjeewa said on Monday.

Debris blocked their way but they waited and eventually found their way out. Sanjeewa’s family had been heading to their friends’ home to celebrate the New Year. The home was buried and their friends, a mother and daughter who worked as laborers in the area, had died, Sanjeewa said.

The prime minister over the weekend vowed to shut down the dump, which has absorbed much of Colombo’s garbage for several years as much of the capital has undergone extensive renovations. As the garbage piled up, the growing mound began threatening the tiny homes nearby, prompting residents to stage regular protests while complaining of health hazards.

“These people did not choose to live next to a dump. But they brought the garbage in and made this place horrible,” said rickshaw driver Dilip Mirmal, 34, whose home was spared while those surrounding were completely subsumed, killing 23 of his neighbors.

“This is a government-made disaster,” he said. “I have a mix of feelings, of anger, frustration and sorrow. We have been trying to protest and raise these issues, but no one was listening.”