Landslide of garbage in the Philippines claimed the lives of eight people

In the city of Cebu, Philippines, search operations continue following a landslide caused by a massive amount of waste at a local landfill. According to BILD, the latest reports indicate that the death toll has risen to eight, with 28 people listed as missing. Rescue operations have been ongoing for two days, but the chances of finding survivors are decreasing with each hour.

The mayor of Cebu, Nestor Archival, confirmed that rescue efforts are still underway. Most of the deceased are workers from the landfill, near which makeshift homes were located.

Among the survivors is one person — 31-year-old office worker Jailord Antigua, who was in the administrative building at the time of the collapse. He managed to escape on his own.

“I saw light and quickly crawled towards it because I was afraid of further collapses. It was very scary. I thought it was the end for me, so now I feel like I’ve been given a second life,” Antigua shared in an interview with the Associated Press.

As of now, the official causes of the disaster have not been established. However, preliminary assessments suggest that prolonged rains may have triggered the landslide by saturating the soil and making the multi-meter layer of waste unstable.