A mountain of garbage and debris collapsed at a landfill in the central Philippines on Thursday, killing a 22-year-old woman and leaving 38 people missing.
The collapse happened after 4 p.m. local time, and many of the victims are believed to be workers at the landfill. The cause of the collapse is still unclear.
Rescuers pulled 12 injured sanitation workers from debris at the Binaliw Landfill in Cebu City, who were later hospitalised.
Some 300 people from various government agencies and civilian groups have been deployed to the privately owned landfill. Several excavators, ambulances and fire trucks are also seen on site.
"All response teams remain fully engaged in search and retrieval efforts to locate the remaining missing persons," Cebu Mayor Nestor Archival said in a Facebook post on Friday, January 9.
Cebu City councillor Joel Garganera said the incident may have happened suddenly, but was likely a result of poor waste management practices.
He also raised concerns about toxic air, putting the trapped people's lives in serious danger.
"It's not a sanitary landfill. It's already an open dumpsite," he said.
Prime Waste Solutions Cebu, which operates the facility, said in a statement, "The safety and wellbeing of our employees, contractors, and neighbouring communities remain our top priority."
Notably, landfills are common in major Philippine cities like Cebu, which is the trading centre and transportation gateway of the Visayas, the archipelago nation's central islands.
