3 confirmed dead, 12 missing in Buziga landslide

Locals look on as a police excavator searches for bodies buried after a lanslide ata a construction site at Badongo- Buziga , Makindye Division in Kampala yesterday. PHOTO BY Abubaker Lubowa 

With the process of recovering bodies from a landslide at a construction site in Buziga in Makindye Division taking a slow pace, Mr Gastavas Ssaazi holds his breath. His 15-year-old son, Joel Sebuuma, a student of Kitala Secondary School on Entebbe Road is among workers buried by the mud yesterday.

“I allowed him to come and work since it was holidays. He has been staying with his uncle but one of his colleagues who survived has confirmed that Joel was buried,” a teary eyed Mr Sssazi said.
Mr Joseph Mubiru, one of the survivors, said: “I saw the debris coming down. I shouted but they could not escape. It was so fast,” Mr Mubiru said. He has been working at the site for two months and receiving Shs12,000 per day.

The contrasting fortunes depict the scene at construction site in Budongo village in Buziga, a Kampala suburb, where a huge mass of soil caved in and buried the workers. Police spent most of yesterday afternoon digging up soil in search of an unspecified number of people, dead or alive. By press time, police had confirmed three people dead; Abbey Kakande, a one Bbosa, and a one Kigozi. Two lucky ones who were rescued alive were put in a police van and rushed to Mulago Hospital for treatment. As the police had drilled through the soggy soils to find the missing bodies, one victim’s head was crashed into pieces.

The number of the missing persons, which had once been put as high as 24 by Mr Mubiru, has since been reduced to 12 people. The incident happened when workers were building a perimeter wall around a house on a hill top. The wall was meant to hold the soil around the house from breaking off. Below the site is a massive stone quarry.

Kampala Metropolitan spokesperson Patrick Onyango, attributed the incident to a downpour that weakened the hanging soil, burying the workers. “We are still investigating but it could be the rain that weakened the soil,” Mr Onyango, said. He said the owner of the building had been contacted but has since switched off his mobile phone.

ptajuba@ug.nationmedia.com