Hopes of finding anyone alive under a collapsed mountain of garbage in Sri Lanka's capital faded Sunday as the death toll reached 23 with another six reported missing, police said.
Hundreds had been living in the working-class neighborhood on the fringe of the towering dump in Meetotamulla, a town outside of Colombo, when a huge mound collapsed Friday night during a local new year celebration, damaging at least 150 homes.
According to the head of the Geology and Earth Studies Division of the Organisation, R. M. S. Bandara, the area around the garbage dump has now been identified as a high risk zone.
Rescuers continued digging through heaps of mud and rubbish that collapsed on to a clutch of homes near a rubbish dump just outside Sri Lanka's capital, killing at least 29 people and possibly burying dozens more.
Members of the military wait until another rescue team recovers a dead victim during a rescue mission after a garbage dump collapsed and buried dozens of houses in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 16, 2017. The death toll from the collaps.
Another resident, Mohamed, said three of his neighbours were missing and estimated that more than 100 people could have been buried.
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But the changes will see the post of prime minister abolished, and most of those powers will be handed to the president. The CHP has said it is also willing to file a case with the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.
Disaster management officials said 1,700 people had been moved to temporary shelters in state schools while the government looked for alternative accommodation.
The site became a dumping ground for Colombo's garbage as authorities pushed to develop the capital in recent years. Bopage a resident of area works as the chairperson of The Peoples Movement Against the Kollonnawa Garbage Dump.
Twelve people who were injured in the disaster remained in the hospital.
The collapse occurred as many people were marking Aluth Avurudda, or the Sinhalese New Year, a major public holiday across Sri Lanka. It has provoked anger among local residents who had long complained of health problems caused by the accumulated garbage and demanded the dump's closure.
Sri Lanka's Parliament was recently warned that 23 million tonne of garbage at Kolonnawa dump was a serious hazard. Ironically, the government had signed agreements a few weeks ago to convert the waste into energy, he said in a post on Facebook.
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