Landfill Collapse in Guinea Kills at Least 31

At least 31 people were killed when a large mound of waste collapsed onto homes in Guinea's capital Conakry, the government said, as rescuers worked through scattered debris and families waited for word of loved ones.

The collapse struck the Dar-es-Salam district around 2 a.m. local time after heavy overnight rain. The government said 22 people were injured, six seriously, and that military units and "significant" resources had been sent to the scene.

Emergency crews used excavators to dig through a vast field of trash at the site while local residents gathered nearby. Prime Minister Mamadou Oury Bah visited the area to assess the situation and oversee the search.

Health Minister Khaïté Sall said those injured would receive free medical care and assured families of government support. One woman told local media that five of her children had died in the disaster.

The scale of the loss was still emerging. Neighbourhood leader Lancine Sylla earlier told AFP that 18 bodies had been recovered and taken to the morgue, and he feared the final toll would be higher.

The collapse is the latest in a series of deadly accidents at the site. At least 10 people were killed in a similar landslide in 2017, and the government had recently asked residents living near the landfill to move. Many stayed.

Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, now in exile, called the accident "a tragedy that plunges us into dismay", noting that the landfill had been scheduled to close on Sunday, August 23.

Rescue teams continued to search through the waste overnight. The disaster also casts a fresh spotlight on the dangers facing informal communities around unmanaged dumpsites in West Africa's fast-growing cities, where heavy seasonal rains, weak enforcement of building rules, and aging waste infrastructure can turn a routine downpour into a deadly event.