This story is from September 2, 2017

Two killed as 50 tonnes of waste hurtles down Ghazipur landfill

Fifty tonnes of garbage came crashing down the 16-storey-high mountain of waste at east Delhi's Ghazipur landfill site in a deadly 'avalanche' that swept away a car and three two-wheelers, killing two people and injuring five on Friday afternoon.
Ghazipur landfill site collapses in east Delhi
Key Highlights
  • Heaps of garbage dropped into the Kondli canal running alongside the landfill
  • Fire officials, divers, police and NDRF teams searched the drain for three hours to rescue people
NEW DELHI: Fifty tonnes of garbage came crashing down the 16-storey-high mountain of waste at east Delhi's Ghazipur landfill site in a deadly 'avalanche' that swept away a car and three two-wheelers, killing two people and injuring five on Friday afternoon.
Heaps of garbage dropped into the Kondli canal running alongside the landfill around 2pm, creating a giant wave of slushy water that hit the road next to the canal.
It washed away the four vehicles -an Accent car, a scooty and two bikes -which fell into a drain on the other side of the road.
Fire officials, divers, police and NDRF teams searched the drain for three hours to rescue people who were swept into it and fish out the two bodies.
Police suspect more people working at the landfill site could be trapped under the debris. Officers said ragpickers from the area usually climbed up the mound searching for things to pick up.
The dead were identified as Rajkumari, 30, who was on the scooty along with two others, and a 20-year-old youth, Abhishek. Those rescued from the drain include Ayub Ansari (driver of the Accent), Pankaj and Karan (who were on the scooty), Deepak (riding the bike on which Abhishek was sitting) and Amit, who was on another bike. They are being treated at different hospitals.
Eyewitnesses said the disastrous sequence of events lasted just a few seconds. “I could not believe my eyes when I saw the mountain falling. Initially, I thought many more people had died as the water and garbage struck the vehicles with immense force,“ said Asghar, resident of Khoda colony in the area. Many other commuters had a narrow escape as their vehicles stopped at the edge of the canal. Locals said the garbage landslide bent a high tension pole that came in its way. Initial investigations point to an explosion in the garbage due to a build-up of gases which loosened the solid waste and triggered the slide.

Experts said the weight of the landfill had increased due to rainwater accumulated during Thursday's heavy showers. Locals had also been complaining about the roads around the landfill site sinking gradually, possibly due to the weight of the mountain of garbage.
Around 6pm, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, deputy CM Manish Sisodia and local MP Maheish Girri reached the spot and promised compensation to the dead and the injured.
EDMC officials admitted that work on releasing the trapped gases inside the massive mound was pending for the past few months, which could have led to the accident.
The 50-metre high landfill at Ghazipur is one of the four primary garbage dumping sites in the city. It is estimated to be holding 2,200 tonnes of refuse.
According to sources, cops will write to DDA and MCD for a report on the incident as well as the functioning of the landfill site. Senior officers confirmed that they will probe whether the government had asked the MCD to stop dumping waste at the site. However, police are waiting for the experts to give a final report on what may have caused the disaster. Major stretches around Ghazipur, NH 24 and Anand Vihar areas witnessed heavy jams due to the slide. The stretch is used by residents of Vaishali, Indirapuram, Kaushambi, Vasundhara and many other areas in NCR.
The bodies have been sent for postmortem to the Lal Ba for postmortem to the Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital. Police have registered an FIR under section 304 A (causing death due to negligence) and causing hurt against unknown persons.
“We have pulled out five persons from the drain. Two of them died. We are probing if there was any negligence involved,“ said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner (eastern range).
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