At least 30 people died in Guinea on Sunday when a massive landfill collapsed, burying nearby shacks and trapping victims under a deluge of garbage. The incident occurred at Dar Es Salam, the largest open-air landfill in the nation's capital, Conakry.
The sheer weight of the waste caused a three-story building located beneath the landfill to cave in. Heavy rainfall overnight exacerbated hazardous conditions at the site, contributing to the collapse, according to reports.
Officials confirmed six people sustained serious injuries, and several homes were destroyed. Search-and-rescue operations are underway to find any survivors.
The Dar Es Salam landfill was reportedly scheduled to close on Sunday due to hazardous conditions, a decision that followed previous safety concerns and a similar incident in recent years. Residents living near the site had been issued eviction notices as a precautionary measure, though many remained in the vicinity at the time of the disaster.
"We will ensure that the remaining families are relocated elsewhere," Dienabou Touré, the minister of territorial administration and decentralization, stated at the scene.
This is not the first time the landfill has been the site of a disaster. In 2017, torrential rains caused a mudslide at the same location, killing at least eight people.
