The death toll from the collapse of a massive garbage mound near Sri Lanka's capital rose to 22 on Sunday, and activists said some 20 more people could still be buried underneath the debris. Police say the known death toll from the disaster has risen to 26.
"We are keeping up the search tomorrow as well, but we are not very hopeful of finding anyone alive in these conditions", Seneviratne told AFP on Monday. Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka told the media that he would take steps to remove the garbage dump. "The whole area was shaking".
Residents had demanded for years the removal of the dump, saying it was causing health problems.
The site had been used to dump Colombo's garbage for the past few years as authorities sought to give a face-lift to the capital.
Debris blocked them from fleeing immediately, but eventually they found a way out, Sanjeewa said.
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Footage filmed by the BBC on Saturday showed people continuing to dump rubbish at Meethotamulla. "But they brought the garbage in and made this place disgusting", said rickshaw driver Dilip Mirmal, 34, whose home was spared while those surrounding were completely subsumed.
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, who is in Washington, DC to attend the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, said in a statement yesterday that ministry officials have been directed to release necessary funds to pay compensation for the families of victims of the Meethotamulla disaster. He counted 23 of his neighbours among the dead. "This is not a natural disaster but man made due to sheer negligence by the authorities concerned", M S Marikkar, the ruling party local member of parliament, said. "I have a mix of feelings - of anger, frustration and sorrow".
"We have been trying to protest and raise these issues, but no-one was listening". More people were feared to be trapped as the military struggled to clear the rubble and rescue people or recover bodies.
The 90-meter (300-foot) mountain of trash collapsed as Colombo celebrated the traditional new year.
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