About 17 people are reported dead in Mozambique on Monday after a 15-metre pile of garbage collapsed as a result of a heavy rainfall.
Africanfeeds.com reported that several other people sustained various degrees of injuries, while about seven houses got buried under the tall heap of garbage.
Officials reportedly said the heap of garbage distorted at around 01:00 GMT in Hulene neighbourhood, a rural community located 10 km away from the East African country’s capital, Maputo.
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Government sources are reported to have said that the affected houses were among those built illegally at unauthorized places and owners had been asked to relocate, but they remained recalcitrant.
Despedida Rita who is a councillor for Ka Mavota Municipal District is quoted as confirming that’ “Up to now 17 dead bodies were recovered. We fear more might be unaccounted for. So we will keep searching for bodies buried underneath the garbage pile.”
Asimilar incident happened last year in Guinea where about eight people lost their lives after a heap of garbage collapsed on the outskirts of the national capital, Conakry.