At least six persons, including two women, were injured and nearly 100 houses gutted after a giant open garbage dump caught fire here today and collapsed on dozens of shanties as people were celebrating the traditional New Year.
Fire fighters were rushed to Kolonnawa, a suburb north of here where the 300-foot garbage dump crashed following a fire, an official at the Colombo Fire department said.
"Around 50 to 100 houses were completely destroyed. We need to check whether people are trapped," said attorney Nuwan Bopage.
The military has been deployed to rescue people who might be trapped, police said, adding that the army and an air force helicopter were also pressed into service to douse the flames.
Officials said they were uncertain if there were people inside when the makeshift homes were buried under the rubbish.
Initial reports said about 40 shanties were buried under the garbage.
Colombo national hospital spokeswoman Pushpa Ramya Soysa said six people - two women and four men - were admitted to the hospital and two of them were in a serious condition.
It was recently said in parliament that the Kolonnawa dump had over 23 million tonnes of garbage in it.
The local residents had protested about the environmental damage as a result of the open dump where some 800 tonnes of solid waste is added daily.
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