30-persons killed in a garbage landslide in Ethiopia

No fewer than 30 people were killed and 28 others injured in a giant landslide of garbage inside a trash dump on the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The city spokesman said on Sunday that the landslide late Saturday levelled more than 30 makeshift homes of squatters living inside the Koshe landfill.

Dagmawit Moges, head of the city communications bureau, said many of the victims were squatters, who scavenged for valuables in the dump, he said.

“We expect the number of victims to increase because the landslide covered a relatively large area,” he said.

The Koshe site has for more than 40 years been one of the main garbage dumps for Addis Ababa, a rapidly growing city of some four million people.

It was not immediately clear what caused Saturday night’s landslide at the Koshe Garbage Landfill, which buried several makeshift homes and concrete buildings.

The landfill has been a dumping ground for the capital’s garbage for more than 50 years.

About 150 people were there when the landslide occurred, resident Assefa Teklemahimanot said.

Addis Ababa Mayor Diriba Kuma said 37 people had been rescued and were receiving medical treatment.

Many people at the landfill had been scavenging items to make a living, but others live there because renting homes, largely built of mud and sticks, is relatively inexpensive.

“My house was right inside there,” said a shaken Tebeju Asres, pointing to where one of the excavators was digging in deep, black mud. “My mother and three of my sisters were there when the landslide happened. Now I don’t know the fate of all of them.”
NAN