Conakry. At least 22 people were killed in a landslide at a large landfill in Guinea’s capital Conakry early Sunday following heavy rain, officials said. The accident occurred at the city’s main garbage dumping site in the Dar es Salaam area, where a huge pile of garbage collapsed and fell on nearby huts.
According to media reports, Guinea’s Civil Protection Service has confirmed the death of at least 22 people in preliminary figures. At the time of the incident, it was raining heavily at around 3 am. Due to the rain, the huge pile of garbage started shifting and within no time a landslide occurred.
Many huts were buried under the debris of garbage. Relief and rescue teams have reached the spot and are searching for people trapped under the debris. It is feared that the death toll may increase. Lieutenant Colonel Balde Mamadou Bailo, Sanitation Officer of the Military Engineering Battalion, said that the landfill was to be closed on Sunday itself. The officials had already given notices to the people living nearby to vacate the area. After this many families had moved to other places, but a large number of people were still present in the area at the time of the accident.
Guinea’s Territorial Administration and Decentralization Minister Deinabou Touré, who reached the spot after the accident, said that the administration will make arrangements to shift all the remaining families living there to safe places. At present, search and rescue operations are going on at the site and the administration is continuously monitoring the situation.