Emergency response personnel search for survivors of a collapsed waste landfill in Binaliw village in Cebu City, central Philippines, on Saturday. Photo by Juanito Espinosa/EPA
Jan. 10 (UPI) — At least four have died and dozens more are hospitalized or missing after a large landfill collapsed in the central Philippines on Thursday while 110 workers were at the site.
A landslide caused a partial collapse of the 37-acre Binaliw landfill that is located in Cebu City, which is situated along the eastern shore of Cebu Island and about 500 miles southeast of Manila, Bloomberg reported.
Cebu City Mayor Nelson Archival said a dozen people have been hospitalized and another 38 are missing, but there are signs of life in some areas.
The cause of the landslide is unknown, but poor waste management policies might be the culprit, Cebu City councillor Joel Garganera said.
Rescue crews are cutting into the side of the mountainous landfill and digging soil out in an effort to reach those thought to still be alive and the bodies of those who are missing and likely deceased.
Cebu is the gateway city to the Visayas Archipelago in the central part of the Philippines, which contains several islands.
The area was pummeled by a typhoon in November that killed at least 26 and was subjected to a 6.9-magnitude earthquake in September.
A 2018 landslide near Naga City on Cebu Island buried dozens of homes and killed several locals, with at least four deaths reported and 64 missing in its immediate aftermath.
