A landslide of refuse at Guinea’s largest landfill killed at least 30 people early Sunday, the government said, after heavy overnight rain triggered a collapse that buried homes on the outskirts of the capital, Conakry.
The landslide struck around 3 a.m. local time at the Dar-es-Salam dump site in the Ratoma district, when heavy rain that began around 2 a.m. washed over the towering mound of waste, sending it crashing into nearby shacks. Six people were seriously injured, and several homes were destroyed, according to a government statement.
“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, adding that search-and-rescue operations were continuing. Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah visited the site as excavators worked through the collapsed debris.
The disaster came on the same day the landfill had been scheduled for closure, according to Lt. Col. Baldé Mamadou Bailo, a sanitation officer with the military’s engineering battalion. Authorities had recently ordered residents near the site to leave and had announced safety measures over concerns about a possible collapse, though many residents remained in the area.
Cellou Dalein Diallo, a former prime minister and prominent opposition figure living in exile, called the disaster “a tragedy that plunges us into dismay” and said the timing, coming just as the closure had been announced, made the incident especially troubling. He called for a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances behind the collapse.
Guinea is led by General Mamadi Doumbouya, who seized power in a 2021 coup before being elected president in December 2025.
