In brief
In the early hours of Monday, a massive pile of untreated waste at the city’s Dar‑es‑Salam landfill slid onto nearby residences in Conakry, Guinea, causing a deadly collapse that claimed at least 30 lives and left 22 injured, including six critically. Heavy overnight rain weakened a precarious mound, prompting the government to dispatch security forces, military units and civil‑engineering teams to detonate and clear the wreckage with excavators while searching for survivors. Local residents and community leaders reported ongoing fears that more bodies may still lie under the rubble. Guinea’s Prime Minister Mamadou Oury Bah visited the scene to assess the damage and oversee rescue operations amid growing concern that the death toll could rise as searches continue. The disaster repeats a tragedy last seen at the same site in 2017, when a similar collapse killed 10 people.
At least 30 people have been killed after a mound of rubbish at a major waste site collapsed onto nearby homes in Guinea’s capital Conakry, the government has said.
The incident, which occurred around 02:00 local time following heavy rain overnight, also left 22 people injured, including six seriously, in the city’s Dar‑es‑Salam area.
Prime Minister Mamadou Oury Bah visited the site to assess the situation, and military forces were deployed to aid in the search for survivors.
Sources report that a woman told locals her five children did not survive the collapse, and authorities are concerned that the death toll could rise further as more bodies may be buried beneath the rubbish.
Rescue teams have been seen using excavators to sift through the mountain of scattered debris, while community leaders such as Lancine Sylla fear a heavy death toll, having already retrieved 18 bodies for morgue transfer.
The disaster marks the second major landslide at this landfill site, with the first occurring in 2017 which killed 10 people.
