Operator of Shenzhen Landfill Ignored Advice to Stop Work Days before Collapse

(Shenzhen) – A company hired by the government to monitor a landfill in Shenzhen told its operator it should halt operations due to safety concerns just four days before a deadly collapse, but the advice was ignored, an executive of the firm said on December 23.

He also said his company learned in September that dirt stored at the facility was not being properly compressed, providing a possible explanation for why the landfill collapsed on December 20, sending a tidal wave of dirt racing down a hill and into an industrial park area filled with factory buildings and worker dormitories.