A towering rubbish landfill in Conakry, Guinea collapsed following heavy overnight rain, burying nearby homes and killing at least 31 people. The death toll is expected to rise as rescue teams continue searching through tons of waste.
A catastrophic collapse at a major rubbish landfill in Guinea's capital city Conakry has left at least 31 people dead and 22 others injured, including six in critical condition, after tons of waste cascaded onto residential homes in the Dar-es-Salam neighbourhood. The disaster struck at approximately 2:00 AM local time in the early hours of Sunday, August 23, following intense overnight rainfall that destabilised the massive mound of refuse.
Eyewitnesses described hearing a deafening roar before the first section of the landfill gave way, sending a wave of debris and waste hurtling toward nearby houses. As residents rushed to help those trapped, a second and then a third section of the landfill collapsed in rapid succession, burying homes and rescuers alike under tons of rubbish.
One grieving woman told local media that all five of her children perished in the disaster. Mamadouba Bangoura, another resident who lost his home, described waking up to a "loud noise" before the second wave of waste struck, pushing his house over and burying everything. "There were a lot of people buried... It is very, very difficult to talk about it because seeing a human being lose their life like that is pathetic, it is so painful," he told Reuters. Emergency responders, including military personnel and heavy machinery operators, were deployed to the site immediately, working alongside desperate residents to sift through the mountain of waste in search of survivors.
The country's Prime Minister Mamadou Oury Bah visited the scene to oversee relief efforts, while Health Minister Khaïté Sall announced that all those injured would receive free medical care and pledged government support for affected families.
The tragedy has raised urgent questions about waste management and public safety in the West African nation. This is not the first deadly incident at the site — ten people were killed in a similar landslide at the same landfill in 2017. The government had recently ordered residents living near the dump to relocate, but many families reportedly chose to stay, citing a lack of alternative housing and resources.
Former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, currently in exile, noted with deep sadness that the closure of the landfill had been officially scheduled for the very day of the collapse. Rescue operations continue, and authorities warn that the final death toll is likely to rise as more bodies are recovered from beneath the rubble.
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