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Death toll from garbage dump landslide in Sri Lanka reaches 32

Xinhua, April 19, 2017 Adjust font size:

The death toll from a landslide of a garbage dump in Sri Lanka rose to 32 on Wednesday with eight others still missing.

The Disaster Management Center said the search and rescue operations at the site of the Meethotamulla garbage dumping site were still continuing.

Several houses were buried after the massive garbage mountain collapsed on Friday.

A fire had also broken out at the site and the Air Force was deployed to douse the flame.

Residents of the area have been protesting over the past months, urging the authorities to move the garbage to another location.

The government said there would be no more dumping of garbage at Meethotamulla following the tragedy.

Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva said over the weekend that a problem running for decades, perhaps as long as 20 years, came to a head with the collapse of a part of the garbage mountain.

He said it was unfortunate that even though payments had been made for those families under risk of landslides to move out, some had not done so.

President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed officials to provide maximum relief to the people who were affected by the disaster. Endit