At least 31 people have been killed and 22 injured after a massive mound of rubbish collapsed at Conakry’s largest landfill, burying nearby homes in the early hours of Sunday morning. The disaster struck the Dar Es Salam waste site in Guinea’s capital at around 02:00 local time, when heavy overnight rain triggered a devastating landslide that swept through the surrounding neighbourhood. Six of the injured are in serious condition, and authorities fear the death toll could rise further as rescue teams continue searching through the debris.
Two Waves of Collapse Kill Rescuers
Witnesses described a horrifying sequence of events as the landfill gave way in multiple stages. The first section of the rubbish mound collapsed, prompting residents and neighbours to rush to the scene searching for survivors. ‘People tried to come to the rescue, shouting, Is there anyone down there? Is there anyone down there?’ eyewitness Robert Kamano Saa told the Associated Press. ‘They came running and climbed onto the refuse to see if anyone was there. That was when the second section collapsed in three successive stages, cascading down.’ The second wave buried many of the would-be rescuers who had climbed onto the unstable heap.
Mamadouba Bangoura, who lost his house in the collapse, said his family was woken by the ‘loud noise’ of the first wave of rubbish, which did not reach them. ‘Then the second wave came. That is what knocked over the house and it fell,’ he told Reuters. One woman told local media that five of her children had died in the disaster.
Landfill Was Slated for Closure
The Dar Es Salam site had been scheduled to close on the very day the collapse occurred. Guinea’s government had recently ordered the expulsion of residents living in informal housing near the landfill due to fears of exactly this type of collapse. But many people chose to remain in the area. The government’s sanitation officer for the Military Engineering Battalion confirmed the planned closure, making the tragedy all the more bitter for the families affected.
Guinea’s Prime Minister Mamadou Oury Bah visited the site to oversee rescue efforts, while Health Minister Khaita Sall assured families of government support and said the injured would receive free medical care. ‘Significant’ resources, including the military, have been deployed to search for survivors using excavators at the enormous waste site.
A Pattern of Deadly Landfill Disasters
Guinea has experienced similar tragedies before. Ten people were killed at the same Dar Es Salam site in 2017 when a section of the landfill gave way. The incident underscores a broader pattern of deadly landfill collapses across Africa and the developing world, where rapid urbanisation and inadequate waste management create conditions for disaster. Uganda’s Kiteezi landfill collapsed in 2024, killing over 30 people, and similar incidents have occurred in Mozambique and Sri Lanka.
Opposition figure and former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, who is in exile, called the collapse ‘a tragedy that plunges us into dismay.’ He noted that the closure of the landfill had been announced for the very day the disaster struck. The situation has reignited debate over urban planning and waste management in Conakry, a city of over two million people that has long struggled with inadequate infrastructure.
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