Landfill collapse in Guinea kills at least 30 people

A mountainous heap of refuse has collapsed at the largest landfill in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, killing at least 30 people, according to a goverment statement.

Six others were also seriously injured after heavy rains in the Bbessia district’s Dar-es-salam neighbourhood triggered a landslide at the landfill around 3 am (15:00 GMT) on Sunday, which buried nearby shacks.

“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 in the statement.

Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah visited the site of the deadly accident, as excavators took part in a search-and-rescue operation through the collapsed landfill under the gaze of a crowd of onlookers.

Measures have been taken “to ensure medical care for the wounded” and “assistance for those affected by this tragedy”, the government statement said.

The site was designated for closure on Sunday, according to Lieutenant Colonel Balde Mamadou Bailo, sanitation officer for the Military Engineering Battalion.

Lancine Sylla, the head of the Dar-es-Salaam suburb, where the incident occurred, said he feared a high death toll. “We have pulled out 18 bodies that were taken to the morgue,” he told the AFP news agency.

One of Guinea’s main opposition figures, former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, who is in exile abroad, called the accident “a tragedy that plunges us into dismay”.