MANILA, Jan. 12 (Xinhua/APP): The death toll from a dumpsite collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has climbed to eight as search and rescue operations continued Monday for 28 people still missing, a city official said.
Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak said in a radio interview that while 12 people were rescued after the facility collapsed last Thursday afternoon, 28 individuals, including engineers and site workers, remain unaccounted for four days.
Tumulak said realistic hopes of finding survivors have begun to fade as rescue and retrieval efforts are slowed by serious safety concerns and hazardous environmental conditions at the site.
Rescue teams are carefully removing debris using acetylene torches, backhoes, and a 50-ton crane, while managing the dangers posed by unstable trash mounds that continue to emit methane and carbon gases.
Local officials warned that cutting metal with acetylene torches in an environment saturated with methane is extremely dangerous due to the high risk of fire and explosion, as both gases are highly flammable and can easily ignite.
The collapse has forced the city to suspend dumping operations at the facility, raising concerns about the growing volume of daily garbage, Tumulak added.