Kiteezi landfill search team temporarily shifts focus to sorting flooding

Task Force temporarily suspends Kiteezi recovery to address flooding, reassures families that search will resume soon.

KAMPALA | The ongoing recovery efforts at the Kiteezi landfill have encountered further challenges as floodwaters have inundated the Kitetika site, forcing the Task Force team to temporarily shift focus from the search for missing persons to addressing the emergency caused by the flooding.

KAmpala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango said the Task Force visited the Kitetika site today to assess the progress of drainage work aimed at diverting the floodwaters that have affected the area.

"The technical team on the ground assured the Task Force that the drainage work would be completed within two days, significantly reducing the water levels," he said.

Despite the shift in focus, the Task Force reassured families of the victims that the search for their loved ones has not been abandoned.

The team emphasised that once the flooding issue is resolved, all available earth-moving equipment will be redeployed to continue the recovery operation.

"We appeal to you to be patient," Mr Onyango read. "The Task Force team is committed to resolving the flooding issue first, after which all efforts will be concentrated on finding the missing persons."

The Registration Committee has been tasked with re-verifying the list of missing persons, which currently stands at 28.

To-date, a total of 35 bodies have been recovered, comprising 18 males and 17 females, with 23 adults and 12 juveniles among the deceased.

All recovered bodies have been claimed by their relatives after postmortem examinations were conducted.

The police also addressed circulating misinformation suggesting that the operation team has run out of fuel and that earth-moving equipment is grounded due to a strike by operators.

Mr Onyango dismissed these claims as false and aimed at undermining the morale of the affected families.

"The government of Uganda cannot lack fuel to run the 14 earth-moving equipment currently on site. The government has committed sufficient resources to ensure the operation continues without interruption. No operators are on strike; they are all working normally," Onyango clarified.

The Task Force's recovery operation has been temporarily suspended for two days to allow engineers to resolve the flooding issue at the Kitetika site.

Once the situation is under control, efforts to locate the remaining missing persons will resume.

The Kiteezi tragedy, which has claimed 35 lives so far, continues to be a matter of grave concern for the affected communities and the nation at large.

The Task Force remains committed to seeing the operation through to its conclusion, ensuring that all missing persons are accounted for.