The death toll from the landslide at a garbage mountain in the Philippines has risen to seven, while hope for finding additional survivors has grown very slim.
Officials in the Philippines said on Sunday, 11 Jan 2026, that hope of finding survivors from the massive garbage mountain that collapsed onto nearby buildings in the central region is fading as several days have passed, although rescue teams continue urgently digging through the vast debris to find victims.
Rescuers recovered one more body on Sunday, raising the confirmed death toll to seven, with at least 29 still missing. The critical 72-hour window for most likely survival since the disaster in Cebu City has now passed.
The incident occurred last Thursday (8 Jan) when the garbage mountain, approximately 20 stories tall at the Binaliw Landfill, collapsed onto nearby office buildings, steel structures, and work areas, burying about 50 sanitation workers alive.
The Binaliw Landfill is a privately operated waste management site that receives garbage from Cebu City, which has nearly one million residents.
“Yesterday, we detected two signs of life using specialized radar equipment, with heartbeats detected about 30 meters beneath the rubble, but no further signals have been reported since,” local firefighter Wendell Bianueva told AFP on Sunday.
So far, only 12 survivors have been safely pulled from the debris and sent to hospitals.
On Saturday, rescue teams faced risks of further collapse as the garbage mountain continued shifting, forcing intermittent work stoppages. Additionally, rainfall has increased the danger.
Bianueva told AFP that from Monday, the rescue operation will shift focus from saving lives to recovering bodies, adding that the final decision depends on the multi-agency team involved.
Follow international news:https://www.thairath.co.th/news/foreign
Source:cna