The huge mound in the Ugandan capital’s northern district of Kiteezi collapsed on Saturday, burying people and livestock.

“By late yesterday evening, we had recovered 25 bodies and no survivors found,” said Lillian Aber, Uganda’s state minister for diaster preparedness and relief.

“We don’t expect more survivors,” she told AFP. It was not immediately clear how many people were unaccounted for. The Ugandan prime minister’s office said three children whose parents were still missing were being sheltered.

Heavy rain has hampered the rescue as excavators churned through the garbage. President Yoweri Museveni directed the army’s special forces to help in the search.

A 200m buffer zone has been created around the site and residents have been ordered to vacate, said Aber.

The 14-hectare landfill was established in 1996, according to local media, and takes in almost all garbage collected across Kampala, about 1,500 tonnes a day.

Kampala mayor Erias Lukwago said authorities were looking for alternative dumping sites because of the closure of the Kiteezi landfill.

“The trucks are not collecting garbage at the moment and streets are filled with garbage which may create a health hazard,” he said.

Uganda and other parts of East Africa have been battered by heavy rains recently. Mudslides in a remote mountainous area in southern Ethiopia last month killed around 250 people.