A mountain of garbage collapsed at a landfill in the Philippines, killing one person and burying dozens
Rescuers on Friday searched for dozens of people buried under a mountain of collapsed garbage at a garbage dump in the central Philippines, killing at least one person.
About 50 people were buried when a pile of garbage fell on them Thursday at the Binaliw Landfill, a private facility in Cebu City, officials said.
Landfill workers were among them, but it was not clear if there were neighboring residents or others, the Associated Press reported.
“There are signs of life,” Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival told a news conference, adding that the hundreds of rescuers already at the site would be joined by “another 500” in the search effort, which he expected to last at least until Sunday.
Cheryl Baldicantos / AFP via Getty Images
He said the rescuers were limited in what they could use because the sparks would ignite the methane gas coming from the landfill.
Thirty-four people are still missing, according to Archival, which updates the lower 38 figures given earlier on its Facebook page.
At least 12 workers were pulled alive from the debris and hospitalized.
Jason Morata, assistant public information officer, told AFP that the mountain of garbage “must be four stories high.”
Aerial images released by police showed what appeared to be several buildings crushed by the weight of the debris.
Jacqueline Hernandez / AP 
Morata said the buildings “house corporate offices, HR, admin, maintenance staff” for the private company that manages the site.
“We are considering a few things. If you remember, Cebu was impressed two storms in the last half of 2025 … and earthquakes,” he said.
Morata added that information was coming slowly because “there are no signs” at the dump.
The landfill “processes 1,000 tons of municipal waste daily, according to the Prime Integrated Waste Solutions website. It has 110 employees, the AP said.
Calls to the company were not answered Friday.
“We don’t know what caused the collapse. It wasn’t fair at all,” said Marge Parcotello, an unofficial employee of the police department in Consolacion, a town that shares the same border with the landfill.
“Most of the victims are from Consolacion,” he said.
Safety and health concerns have long surrounded landfills in many cities and towns in the Philippines, especially those near poor communities whose residents eat garbage and leftover food from garbage dumps, the AP points out.
More than 200 people were killed in July 2000 when the trash in the city of Manila was full of thousands of scavengers.
That disaster, the worst in Philippine history, sparked public outrage over open garbage dumps. A law aimed at better regulating waste management was passed months later.
