Rescuers find ‘signs of life’ after Philippines trash eruption kills 4, leaves dozens missing
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Rescuers found “signs of life” in a garbage spill that killed at least four workers and left more than 30 others missing Thursday at a landfill in the central Philippines and planned to step up search efforts, an official said Saturday.
12 workers were rescued from injuries from a huge pile of garbage that collapsed between buildings below a waste management building in Binaliw village in Cebu City, authorities said.
Dozens of rescuers, including police, firemen and disaster responders, have raced against time to find other survivors in dangerous conditions amid the rubble of twisted tiles, metal and burning piles of rubbish.
“The authorities have confirmed the existence of signs of life found in certain areas, which need to continue to be carefully excavated and the deployment of a highly advanced 50-ton crane, which is on its way accompanied by the police,” Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival said in a statement.
“The safety of responders remains critical due to hazards such as unstable debris and acetylene hazards, which require changes to the security perimeter and controlled access.”
The four who died, including an engineer and an office worker, were all employees of the waste disposal and disposal facility, which has 110 employees, according to the mayor and police.
The initial death toll on Friday included two dead and 36 missing, but the number rose to four dead on Saturday, according to Archival, which did not provide an updated number of missing persons.
The cause of the debris mountain collapse is not yet known, but a survivor told The Associated Press on Friday that it happened suddenly without warning, even though the weather was good at the time.
Jaylord Antigua, 31, who works in an office at the landfill, said the wall of garbage collapsed and destroyed the management office he was in. He pulled himself out with bruises on his face and arms by crawling in the dark through the rubble and debris.
“I saw the light and I crawled towards it in a hurry, because I was afraid that there would be many landslides,” said Antigua. “It was very painful. I was afraid it was my end, so this is my second life.”
It is not clear how the accident will affect the disposal of waste at the landfill in Cebu, a port city of nearly a million people that serves as a regional center for trade, commerce and tourism.
Preparations are “continuing to manage the issue of garbage collection,” Archival said in a statement without providing further details.
Such dumps and open dumps have long been a source of safety and health concerns throughout the Philippines, especially in areas close to poor communities where many residents scavenge for junk food and leftovers from garbage heaps.
In July 2000, a large mound of debris in a slum in Quezon City, part of the metropolis of Manila, collapsed and caught fire days after the typhoon.
The disaster left more than 200 people dead and many more missing, damaged dozens of slums and led to legislation requiring the closure of landfills across the country, as well as improved and sustainable waste management by authorities.
