24 May Fatal rubbish dump fire
One thousand emergency and military personnel in Sri Lanka had to dig for five days to recover the bodies of people who died after a fire undermined the wall of a rubbish dump causing it to collapse on a shanty town.
Initial estimates suggested more than 100 vagrants were missing after the 90-metre long dump wall collapsed in the Meethotamulla area on the border of the commercial centre of Colombo.
Residents of the area had previously called for the removal of the dump saying it was causing health problems and after the fire and subsequent deadly landslide said its removal would be part of an infrastructure plan.