Hopes fade for girl buried in Indian garbage dump

This article is more than 12 months old

Oct 01, 2020 06:00 am

AHMEDABAD The search for a 12-year-old girl buried under a huge garbage heap in western India entered its fifth day yesterday, with hopes fading fast of finding her alive.

Neha Vasava was on top of a 25-30m mountain of refuse at Ahmedabad's biggest rubbish dump - where she and her family eke out a living - when it collapsed on Saturday evening.

Rescuers have since been sifting through tonnes of stinking garbage and braving feral dogs that roam the area, spread over some 32 ha.

An estimated four million Indians - many of them children - work in filthy, dangerous conditions, as "ragpickers", sorting through trash for metal and other materials to sell.

"The chance of her being alive is negligible, but we will continue the search till we find her," fire officer Naitik Bhatt said yesterday adding that six earth movers had been deployed. - AFP