At least 30 people have died in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, after part of a landfill collapsed onto nearby homes following heavy rainfall.
The disaster occurred around 2:00am on Sunday in the Dar-es-Salam neighbourhood of Bbessia district, on the outskirts of Conakry.
According to the Guinean government, six other people sustained serious injuries in the incident, while emergency teams were deployed to search for additional victims who may have been trapped beneath the debris.
“Significant material and human resources have been deployed to search for any people who may still be buried, to rescue the victims and to recover the bodies,” the government said.
Rescue Operation Underway
Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah visited the scene as rescuers and residents worked through the collapsed landfill.
Excavators were deployed to remove the huge amount of rubbish and debris as emergency workers searched for survivors and recovered bodies.
Authorities also said measures had been put in place to provide medical treatment for the injured and assistance to people affected by the tragedy.
Before the government announced the official death toll, a local community leader, Lancine Sylla, said residents feared that many people had been killed.
Sylla told AFP that 18 bodies had initially been recovered and taken to a morgue.
Fears Had Been Raised Over Landfill
The incident has raised concerns over the safety of communities living close to the landfill.
Opposition figure and former Guinean Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo described the collapse as a tragedy and called for a transparent investigation into what caused it.
Diallo noted that authorities had reportedly planned to close the landfill on the same day the collapse occurred.
He urged the government to establish the circumstances surrounding the disaster and take measures to prevent a recurrence.
Authorities had also recently ordered people living around the site to leave because of concerns that the landfill could collapse.
Guinea is currently led by General Mamadi Doumbouya, who came to power following a military coup in 2021 before being elected president in December 2025.
