Death toll in Uganda rubbish heap collapse reaches 24 as rescue teams find more victims

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The death toll from a mountain of rubbish that collapsed in the Ugandan capital rose to 24 on Monday as rescuers with excavators continued searching for victims, according to the city authority.

At least four children are among those killed by the collapse at the Kiteezi landfill Friday, police told reporters.

The collapse is believed to have been triggered by heavy rainfall. The precise details of what happened were unclear, but the city authority said there was a “structural failure in waste mass.”

Irene Nakasiita, a spokeswoman for the Uganda Red Cross, said there was no hope of rescuing more people alive.

It was not clear how many people were unaccounted for. The Kiteezi landfill is a vast rubbish dumpsite in an impoverished hillside area that receives hundreds of garbage trucks daily. The city authority has been aiming to decommission it since declaring it full years ago.

It's also a kind of no-man's land in the city of 3 million, attractive to women and children who scavenge plastic waste they aim to sell. Others have built permanent homes nearby.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ordered an investigation into the disaster, asking in a series of posts on the social platform X why people were living in close proximity to an unstable heap of garbage.

“Who allowed people to live near such a potentially hazardous and dangerous heap?” Museveni said, adding that effluent from the site is hazardous enough that people should not be living there.

Onlookers watch as workers search for survivors at the site of a collapsed landfill in Kampala, Uganda, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Onlookers watch as workers search for survivors at the site of a collapsed landfill in Kampala, Uganda, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Onlookers watch as workers search for survivors at the site of a collapsed landfill in Kampala, Uganda, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Onlookers watch as workers search for survivors at the site of a collapsed landfill in Kampala, Uganda, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Onlookers watch as workers search for survivors at the site of a collapsed landfill in Kampala, Uganda, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda )

Onlookers watch as workers search for survivors at the site of a collapsed landfill in Kampala, Uganda, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

Red Cross personnel carry the body of a victim at the site of a collapsed landfill in Kampala, Uganda, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy" Combs was expected to appear before a federal judge in New York on Tuesday after his indictment on undisclosed criminal charges.

The music mogul was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami.

The indictment detailing the charges was expected to be unsealed Tuesday morning, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

Over the past year, Combs has been sued by people who say he subjected them to physical or sexual abuse. He has denied many of those allegations and his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, called the new indictment an “unjust prosecution.”

“He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said in a statement late Monday.

Combs, 54, was recognized as one of the most influential figures in hip-hop before a flood of allegations that emerged over the past year turned him into an industry pariah.

In November, his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit saying he had beaten and raped her for years. She accused Combs of coercing her, and others, into unwanted sex in drug-fueled settings.

The suit was settled in one day but months later CNN aired hotel security footage showing Combs punching and kicking Cassie and throwing her on a floor. After the video aired, Combs apologized, saying, “I was disgusted when I did it.”

Combs and his attorneys, however, denied similar allegations made by others in a string of lawsuits.

Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer for Cassie, said in a statement Tuesday that “neither Ms. Ventura nor I have any comment.”

“We appreciate your understanding and if that changes, we will certainly let you know,” he added.

A woman said Combs raped her two decades ago when she was 17. A music producer sued, saying Combs forced him to have sex with prostitutes. Another woman, April Lampros, said Combs subjected her to “terrifying sexual encounters,” starting when she was a college student in 1994.

The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie and Lampros did.

Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, has gotten out of legal trouble before.

In 2001, he was acquitted of charges related to a Manhattan nightclub shooting two years earlier that injured three people. His then-protege, Shyne, was convicted of assault and other charges and served about eight years in prison.

This story has been corrected to show that Combs' age is 54, not 58.

Associated Press writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

FILE - Host Sean "Diddy" Combs presents the revolt black excellence award at the Billboard Music Awards, May 15, 2022, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Sean 'Diddy' Combs is expected in court after New York indictment

Sean 'Diddy' Combs is expected in court after New York indictment

FILE - Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the LA Premiere of "The Four: Battle For Stardom" at the CBS Radford Studio Center on May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)