Thirty people died when a mountainous heap of refuse collapsed at the Dar Es Salam landfill in Conakry, Guinea, early Sunday following heavy rains. The disaster buried nearby shacks, injured six people seriously, and prompted emergency search-and-rescue operations.
Heavy rains starting around 2 a.m. triggered a devastating landslide at the largest open-air waste dump in Guinea’s capital according to the central government. The collapsing mound of rubbish in the Bbessia district’s Dar-es-salam neighbourhood crashed onto neighbouring homes and shacks before dawn, leaving a heavy toll.
Search and Rescue Operations at the Dar Es Salam Landfill
Rescue teams deployed excavators to comb through the unstable debris under the gaze of a crowd of onlookers. Neighbourhood leader Lancine Sylla described the grim initial recovery effort before the government released its updated death toll of 30.
In addition to the 30 fatalities confirmed by the central government, six people were seriously injured and several homes were destroyed in the disaster zone. Guinea’s civil protection service coordinated the ongoing search for survivors amid the wreckage.
Eviction Orders and Planned Closure Preceded the Disaster
The catastrophic collapse struck on the very day the massive open-air waste facility was scheduled to be shut down. Lt. Col. Baldé Mamadou Bailo, the sanitation officer for the military engineering battalion, noted that the site had been designated for closure on Sunday.
Authorities stated that locals living around the perimeter had received eviction notices. While those warnings forced many residents to leave the hazardous zone ahead of time, many people were still around at the time of the disaster. Government officials who rushed to the scene pledged to handle the housing crisis for the displaced survivors.
Poverty and Infrastructure Pressures in Conakry
Although the West African nation possesses massive mineral wealth—including the world’s largest deposits of bauxite alongside iron ore, gold, and diamonds—poverty remains widespread. According to World Bank figures cited by officials, 43.7% of the population lives below the national poverty line, driving urban residents to settle on the hazardous margins of massive open-air dumps like Dar Es Salam.
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