Uganda garbage landslide death toll rises to 26, 39 missing

KAMPALA (Reuters) - The death toll from a landslide at a vast garbage dump in Uganda's capital Kampala last week has risen to 26, while 39 people remain missing, police said on Wednesday.

Late on Friday a mountain of garbage collapsed at a landfill site on the outskirts of Kampala, burying dozens of homes as people slept.

As of Sunday the death toll stood at 21.

Police said more bodies had been recovered since the weekend and they had been able to estimate the number of people missing by interviewing survivors.

Those missing include 35 local residents and four garbage collectors, police said in a statement, adding excavation work was continuing to try to retrieve those who were missing and presumed dead.

The landslide followed torrential rains that have battered parts of the East African country in recent weeks, triggering extensive flooding and damage.

Residents near the landfill, which has for decades served as Kampala's only waste dump, have long complained of hazardous waste polluting the environment and posing a danger.

Similar tragedies elsewhere in Africa from poorly managed mountains of municipal trash include a 2017 incident in Ethiopia in which at least 115 people were killed.

(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Alexander Winning and Shounak Dasgupta)