'This is an impossible task' - Hopes wane for survivors in Philippine garbage site collapse

Members of the search and rescue team look for people after a landslide at the landfill in Barangay Binaliw, Cebu City, on Sunday, January 11, 2026. Hard hat-wearing rescue workers and backhoes dug through rubble in search of survivors on January 10 in the shadow of a mountain of garbage that buried dozens of landfill employees in the central Philippines, killing at least six. -- Photo by Cheryl Baldicantos / AFP

CEBU, Philippines (AFP): Hopes of finding survivors days after the collapse of a massive mountain of trash in the central Philippines were fading, officials said Sunday, as rescue workers dug through tons of rubble.

The recovery of a body on Sunday brought the confirmed death toll to seven, with at least 29 people still missing as the crucial 72-hour window since the landslide in Cebu City came to an end.