At least 30 people have died and 22 others were injured after a massive landslide of garbage collapsed onto homes in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, following hours of torrential overnight rain. The disaster struck around 2 a.m. at the Dar Es Salam landfill in the city's Gbessia commune, when a mountainous heap of waste, saturated by days of heavy rainfall, suddenly gave way and surged downhill into a nearby residential area.
The wall of debris engulfed tents, shacks, and fragile homes in its path, with witnesses saying the collapse was powerful enough to bury an entire apartment building along with the surrounding dwellings. One grieving mother told reporters she had lost all five of her children in the disaster, saying, "All I can do is put my trust in God."
Rescue teams, backed by military personnel and heavy excavators, are working through the debris searching for survivors and victims still believed to be trapped beneath the waste. Authorities said the landfill had actually been scheduled to close just hours later that same Sunday, after officials had already flagged the site as hazardous.
This isn't the first tragedy at the site, either. A similar collapse struck the same landfill in 2017, killing eight to ten people under nearly identical rainy conditions, raising fresh questions about why the dangerous site remained open for so many years.
Officials say displaced families will be relocated as search and rescue efforts continue at the site.