Camille Naredo

Search and rescue teams look for people after a landslide at the landfill in Barangay Binaliw, Cebu City on January 9, 2026. Cheryl Baldicantos, AFP

Search and rescue teams look for people after a landslide at the landfill in Barangay Binaliw, Cebu City on January 9, 2026. Rescue workers searched on January 9 for dozens of people buried under a mountain of garbage that collapsed at a landfill in the central Philippines, killing at least one. (Photo by Cheryl Baldicantos / AFP)

Article (news)

LANDSLIDE

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1768023701620AFP__20260109__924Z4NR__v2__MidRes__TopshotPhilippinesLandslideAccident.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Search and rescue teams look for people after a landslide at the landfill in Barangay Binaliw, Cebu City on January 9, 2026. Cheryl Baldicantos, AFP" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Search and rescue teams look for people after a landslide at the landfill in Barangay Binaliw, Cebu City on January 9, 2026. <em>Cheryl Baldicantos, AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA (<strong>UPDATED</strong>) -- Hard hat-wearing rescue workers and backhoes dug through rubble in search of survivors on Saturday in the shadow of a mountain of garbage that buried dozens of landfill employees in the central Philippines, killing at least six.</p><p>About 50 sanitation workers were buried when refuse toppled onto them Thursday from what a city councillor estimated was a height of 20 storeys at the Binaliw Landfill, a privately operated facility in Cebu City.</p><p>Rescuers were now facing the danger of further collapse as they navigated the still-shifting wreckage, Cebu rescuer Jo Reyes told AFP on Saturday.</p><p>&quot;Operations are ongoing as of the moment. It is continuous. (But) from time to time, the landfill is moving, and that will temporarily stop the operation,&quot; she said.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/regions/2026/1/9/rescuers-rush-to-save-dozens-trapped-in-cebu-city-landslide-1544">READ: Death toll in Cebu City landslide rises; dozens still missing</a></div><p>Cebu City councillor Dave Tumulak, chairman of the city&#x27;s disaster council, told AFP another two bodies had been uncovered Saturday by crews working in 24-hour shifts.</p><p>The discovery brings the death toll to six, while 32 people remain missing.</p><p>&quot;We found another two bodies, but we cannot retrieve the bodies because of the heavy metal beam that fell on them, so we are trying to cut the metal,&quot; he said.</p><p>To assist in the rescue operation, 20 trucks equipped with hydraulic cranes and specialised cutting attachments were being sent to help rescuers forced to crawl to reach areas blocked by debris.</p><p>&quot;Our rescuers are struggling because the metal beams are big,&quot; he said. &quot;With (the trucks), the metal can be lifted and our rescuers can navigate the site more efficiently.</p><p>&quot;We are just hoping that we can get someone alive ... We are racing against time, that&#x27;s why our deployment is 24/7.&quot;</p><p>Twelve employees have so far been pulled alive from the garbage and hospitalized.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Praying for miracles&#x27; -</strong></div><p>Numerous families were on site awaiting word on the fate of their relatives, Joel Garganera, another Cebu City council member, told AFP on Saturday.</p><p>&quot;We are hoping against hope here and praying for miracles,&quot; he said.</p><p>The city councillor described the height from which the trash fell as &quot;alarming&quot;, estimating the top of the pile had stood 20 storeys above the area struck.</p><p>&quot;Every now and then, when it rains, there are landslides happening around the city of Cebu ... how much more (dangerous is that) for a landfill or a mountain that is made of garbage?&quot; Garganera said.</p><p>&quot;The garbage is like a sponge, they really absorb water. It doesn&#x27;t (take) a rocket scientist to say that eventually, the incident will happen.&quot;</p><p>Drivers had long complained about the dangers of navigating the steep road to the top, he added.</p><p>Photos released by police on Friday showed a massive mound of trash atop a hill directly behind buildings that a city information officer had told AFP contained administrative offices.</p><p>The facility also included staff housing &quot;where most people who were buried stayed&quot;, Garganera said.</p><p>He noted that the disaster was a &quot;double whammy&quot; for the city, as the facility was the &quot;lone service provider&quot; for Cebu and adjacent communities.</p><p>The landfill &quot;processes 1,000 tons of municipal solid waste daily&quot;, according to the website of its operator, Prime Integrated Waste Solutions.</p><p>Calls and emails to the company have so far gone unreturned.</p><p>Rita Cogay, who operates a compactor at the site, told AFP on Friday she had stepped outside to get a drink of water just moments before the building she had been in was crushed.</p><p>&quot;I thought a helicopter had crashed. But when I turned, it was the garbage and the building coming down,&quot; the 49-year-old said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JHDtBGvVoZQ?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>Hard hat-wearing rescue workers and backhoes dug through rubble in search of survivors on Saturday in the shadow of a mountain of garbage that buried dozens of landfill employees in the central Philippines, killing at least four.</p>

Hard hat-wearing rescue workers and backhoes dug through rubble in search of survivors on Saturday in the shadow of a mountain of garbage that buried dozens of landfill employees in the central Philippines, killing at least four.

'Racing against time': Death toll rises after Cebu City trash site collapse

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'Racing against time': Death toll rises after Cebu City trash site collapse

Pam Castro,

Agence France-Presse

Published January 10, 2026 01:42 PM PHT

|

Updated January 10, 2026 06:07 PM PHT

Read More:

Cebu

landfill

landslide

Binaliw Landfill

accident

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