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At least 46 killed in landslide at waste dump in Ethiopia

Posted at 3:53 PM, Mar 12, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-12 17:53:47-04

By Briana Duggan and Ryan Prior

NAIROBI (CNN) — A landslide killed at least 46 people at a waste dump outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Sunday, according to the country’s communications minister, Negeri Lencho.

Officials were still investigating how the landslide at the sprawling Koshe landfill occurred, Lencho said.

“It’s a sad story because the government has been trying to resettle the people residing in the area,” Lencho said. The government had also been building a factory to convert waste products at the landfill into electric energy, he said.

He added that security personnel are still searching for people who have been reported missing in the landslide, and that the government is working to resettle the families affected.

A similar landslide occurred in January 2016 at a waste dump in Shenzhen, China, killing 58.

Briana Duggan reported from Nairobi and Ryan Prior wrote from Atlanta.