One Dead, 38 Missing After Philippine Dump Site Collapse

AFP/APP

Manila: Rescue workers on Friday searched for dozens of people feared buried under a mountain of garbage that collapsed at a landfill in the central Philippines, killing at least one person.

Dozens of sanitation workers were buried when the towering pile of refuse toppled on Thursday at the Binaliw Landfill, a privately operated facility in Cebu City.

“It must be four storeys high,” said Jason Morata, a city assistant public information officer, describing the trash mountain.

At least 12 employees were pulled out alive from the garbage and hospitalised, according to a statement posted on the official Facebook page of city mayor Nestor Archival.

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Rescue teams were “fully engaged in search and retrieval efforts to locate the remaining missing persons,” the mayor said.

Aerial photographs released by police showed what appeared to be multiple structures crushed under the weight of the garbage. City information officer Morata said the buildings housed “company offices, HR, admin and maintenance staff” for the private firm operating the site.

“We’re considering several factors. If you remember, Cebu was struck by two typhoons in the latter part of 2025, and also an earthquake,” Morata said. He added that information was emerging slowly as there was “no signal” at the dump site.

According to the website of operator Prime Integrated Waste Solutions, the landfill processes 1,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste daily. Calls to the company went unanswered on Friday.

“We don’t know what caused the collapse. It wasn’t raining at all,” said Marge Parcotello, a civilian staff member of the police department in Consolacion, a town that borders the dump site. She added that many of the victims were from Consolacion.

In July 2000, more than 200 people were killed when an avalanche of garbage engulfed a Manila shanty town inhabited by thousands of scavengers.