Deadly landslide hits Ethiopia during prayer service
Funerals have been held for some of the 14 people killed in a landslide that hit a mountain monastery hosting an overnight prayer session in Ethiopia’s northern Amhara region.
Rescue efforts for others feared trapped in the debris after a hillside above the Orthodox Church monastery collapsed in the early hours of Monday morning have now been halted.
The monastery includes a prayer chamber carved into the mountainside, where the worshippers had gathered for the special prayer service.
The prayer service being held at the Tsadqane Debre Mitmaq St Mary Monastery included a holy water cleansing ritual that is popular among Orthodox Christians seeking spiritual healing for chronic illnesses.
“Many of those who died had gathered to receive the holy water,” Megabe Hadis Neka Tibeb Ababu, the diocese’s general manager, told the Associated Press news agency.
Eleven of those who died have been buried at the monastery, while the bodies of the others have been returned to their hometowns for burial, according to Megabe.
Identifying some of the victims remained a challenge, he said.
Emergency teams, security personnel, healthcare workers and nearby residents had been among those carrying out search and rescue operations at the site, the local authorities said.
Archbishop Abune Klementos, the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s North Shewa Diocese, travelled to the monastery to lead funeral prayers for those killed, pray for the injured and offer comfort to grieving families, the authorities added. -BBC
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Eleven of the 14 people found in the debris have been buried at the monastery
Morocco to build $1.5 billion waste-to-energy plant in Casablanca
A consortium led by Swiss-Japanese firm Kanadevia Inova said it plans to start building a $1.5 billion waste-to-energy plant in Casablanca by the end of the year, with full operations expected by mid-2030.
The facility in Morocco’s largest city will be the second of its kind in Africa and aims to generate electricity while reducing methane emissions and other environmental impacts from the Mediouna landfill, the largest in the country.
Waste management firm Kanadevia Inova and its partners signed a concession agreement awarded by Casablanca’s city government on Monday.
The consortium includes Moroccan Energy Company Nareva and Japan’s Itochu.
Kanadevia Inova said that once operational, the plant will process about 1.5 million metric tonnes of waste annually and generate around 115 megawatts of electricity from a mix of waste, solar power and landfill gas, enough to supply nearly one million people.
Opponents of such plants including environmental scientists, climate activists and local community groups say they undermine recycling initiatives and emit particulate matter and greenhouse gases as most of them rely on incineration.
Construction in Casablanca would begin once debt and equity financing were fully secured by the fourth quarter of this year, Kanadevia Inova’s Chief Executive Bruno-Frédéric Baudouin said in an interview with Reuters.
The consortium has also secured a power purchase agreement with state-owned electricity utility ONEE and would seek financing from Moroccan lenders, Baudouin said. -Reuters
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