Tragedy Strikes as Landfill Collapse in Philippines Leaves One Dead and 38 Missing

Wed Jan 14 2026 19:54:47 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

In a devastating incident in Cebu City, a massive landfill collapsed, resulting in at least one confirmed death and dozens missing, with rescuers racing against time to locate survivors.

A landfill collapse in Cebu City, Philippines, has claimed the life of a 22-year-old woman and left 38 others missing. Search and rescue operations are ongoing to locate the victims, with the incident highlighting concerns over unsafe waste management practices in the region.

A mountain of rubbish collapsed at a landfill in the central Philippines on Thursday, killing a 22-year-old woman and leaving 38 people missing, authorities said.

Rescuers pulled 12 injured sanitation workers from debris at the Binaliw Landfill in Cebu City, who were later hospitalized.

Many of the victims are believed to be workers at the landfill. The cause of the collapse is still unclear.

Some 300 people from various government agencies and civilian groups have been deployed to the privately-owned landfill, with several excavators, ambulances, and fire trucks also on site.

Cebu Mayor Nestor Archival stated in a Facebook post, All response teams remain fully engaged in search and retrieval efforts to locate the remaining missing persons.

Cebu City Councillor Joel Garganera remarked that while the incident may have occurred suddenly, it was likely a result of poor waste management practices. He mentioned that operators had been digging into the mound to retrieve soil, then piling garbage to form another mountain of waste, categorizing the area as not a sanitary landfill but an open dumpsite.\

Landfills are prevalent in major Philippine cities like Cebu, which serves as a trading center and transportation hub in the Visayas, the archipelago nation's central islands.

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