Dozens Still Missing in Sri Lankan Garbage Collapse; 30 Dead
Heavy machinery are used by Sri Lanka Army personnel during rescue operations at the collapsed garbage mountain in Meethotamulla, Colombo, Sri Lanka 15 April 2017. Following a fire that broke out on Friday 14 2017 at the garbage dump that had grown into a huge man-made mountain measuring 300 feet (91.5 metres) in height, resulting in a large section collapsing on to the houses of low and middle income earners' dwellings in the vicinity. According to local officials, 40 houses have been buried with 10 deaths reported and another seven undergoing treatment at the National Hospital in Colombo. Authorities are working on cause of the fire, while search efforts for those possibly still trapped or buried under the debris continue
Photographer: NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesMeetotamulla, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Rescuers on Monday were digging through heaps of mud and trash that collapsed onto a clutch of homes near a garbage dump outside Sri Lanka's capital, killing at least 30 people and possibly burying dozens more.
Hundreds of people had been living in the working-class neighborhood on the fringe of the towering dump in Meetotamulla, a town near Colombo, when a huge mound collapsed Friday night during a celebration for the local new year, damaging at least 150 homes.