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		</div><p>The death toll from the collapse of a massive rubbish heap near Sri Lanka&#8217;s capital has risen to 29, while dozens more are missing and feared to be beneath the rubble.</p>
<p>Hundreds had been living in the working-class neighbourhood on the fringe of the towering dump in Meetotamulla, a town outside of Colombo, when a huge mound collapsed on Friday night during a local new year celebration, damaging at least 150 homes.</p>
<p>By Monday morning, authorities had pulled 29 bodies from beneath the debris, according to a lawyer who has worked with locals to protest against the dump.</p>
<p>Authorities were unsure how many more could still be trapped, but about 30 people were still reported missing, lawyer Nuwan Bopage said.</p>
<p>Soldiers were digging with shovels as relatives of the missing pointed out where their houses once stood amid coconut, mango and banana trees.</p>
<p>Those homes now lay in piles of collapsed concrete walls encased in a wall of mud up to 25 feet high and mixed with plastic bags, broken glass and other rubbish.</p>
<p>Bicycles and auto-rickshaws, the three-wheeled vehicles used as local taxis, were crushed.</p>
<p>Rasika Sanjeewa, 41, his wife, two sons and a daughter had a narrow escape.</p>
<p>Just as he stopped his auto-rickshaw and he and his family stepped to the ground, his daughter said the ground seemed to be moving beneath her feet.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;There was a strong wind from the side of the dump and my daughter shouted the mound is splitting. Suddenly one slice of the mound came crashing down. The whole area was shaking,&#8221;</i> Mr Sanjeewa said.</p>
<p>Debris blocked their way but they waited and eventually found their way out.</p>
<p>Mr Sanjeewa&#8217;s family had been heading to their friends&#8217; home to celebrate the new year. The home was buried and their friends, a mother and daughter who worked as labourers in the area, had died, Mr Sanjeewa said.</p>
<p>The prime minister over the weekend vowed to shut down the dump, which has absorbed much of Colombo&#8217;s rubbish for several years as much of the capital has undergone extensive renovations.</p>
<p>As the rubbish piled up, the growing mound began threatening the tiny homes nearby, prompting residents to stage regular protests while complaining of health hazards.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;These people did not choose to live next to a dump. But they brought the garbage in and made this place horrible,&#8221;</i> said rickshaw driver Dilip Mirmal, 34, whose home was spared while those surrounding were completely subsumed.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;This is a government-made disaster,&#8221;</i> he said. <i>&#8220;I have a mix of feelings, of anger, frustration and sorrow. We have been trying to protest and raise these issues, but no one was listening.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>Another 11 people injured in the incident were being treated in a hospital.</p>
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