Two dozen missing after Guatemala trash pile collapse

As many as 24 people are still missing after a huge pile of garbage at the city dump in the Guatemalan capital caved in and killed four people.

Authorities reported the number of the missing on Wednesday, two days after the incident in Guatemala City, which caught hundreds of scavengers by surprise.

A small of number of those missing have been named due to their having registered as “guajero” or official garbage collector.

Others have been identified only as people randomly picking through the trash for recyclable items.

Briefing media on the tragedy, Carlos Sandoval from Guatemala City Municipality said on “the day of the incident, in the morning hours – at exactly 6:51 [1251 GMT] some tremors were felt within the capital. It is important that for the analysis that is taking place this be taken into account and that the search continues.”

Pan–Latin American TV network TeleSur, meanwhile, reported that the catastrophe had been caused by torrential rains.

Hundreds of rescuers are still picking through the garbage dump, looking for survivors or bodies.

About 1,200 registered garbage pickers work at the massive dump, which receives about 500 truckloads of trash every day amounting to about 3,000 tons of garbage from the capital and surrounding areas.