Guinea: Garbage Collapse at Landfill Kills Dozens

What the report says

A landfill collapse in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, has killed at least 30 people and left at least six others seriously injured, according to officials cited by Deutsche Welle and distributed by AllAfrica. The collapse happened before dawn at the Dar Es Salam landfill after heavy overnight seasonal rains caused a large mound of rubbish to give way, burying nearby homes and people in the area.

Guinea’s minister for territorial administration, Djenabou Toure, visited the site as rescue workers used excavators to look for additional victims. The report says the government had already moved to expel residents living in informal housing near the dump because of concerns about possible collapses.

The Dar Es Salam landfill had been scheduled for closure on Sunday, according to Balde Mamadou Bailo, the sanitation officer for the Military Engineering Battalion. The disaster highlights the risks posed by unstable waste sites during intense rain, a hazard that has also been seen in other countries in the region and beyond.

More broadly, the incident underscores recurring concerns about urban waste management, flood vulnerability and informal settlement safety in fast-growing African capitals. Those background issues are general context; the core details in this report come from the published account cited above.