The death toll from a landslide at a vast garbage dump in Kampala, Uganda, has risen to 30 after the retrieval of six additional bodied on Wednesday, August 14 evening.

The Uganda Police Force says that 39 people remain missing – this include 35 who are community members (local residents) and four garbage collectors.

A mountain of garbage collapsed at the Kiteezi landfill site on the outskirts of Kampala on Friday, August 9 night, leaving a devastating aftermath of dozens of homes buried as people slept.

Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango says a committee that was set up to register all the affected people, houses destroyed and suspected homes that were covered by the garbage released its preliminary findings on Wednesday, August 14.

According to the findings, 120 people were registered in a temporary camp at Kiteezi Church of Uganda Primary School playground.

On Tuesday, August 13, police arrested five suspects who were impersonating as victims of the tragic incident in Kiteezi, and were also looking for compensation and relief items.

“They are detained at Kiteezi Police Station on charges of impersonation,” Onyango says.

The 36-acre (14-hectare) Kiteezi landfill is the only one serving the whole of Kampala City, home to an estimated four million people.

Kampala authorities have been trying to find a new site for years. In the meantime, a huge hill was formed out of the piling of garbage.

It is this ‘hill’ that collapsed, burying houses on the edge of the site while residents were asleep.

President Yoweri Museveni has since ordered an investigation to find out why people were allowed to live so close to the dangerous rubbish heap.