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The Guinean government reported that at least 31 people died with another 22 injured including six seriously when a large mound of rubbish at the Dar-es-Salam landfill in Conakry’s Gbessia commune collapsed around 2 a.m. local time on August 23 2026. Heavy rains overnight triggered the landslide that sent waste cascading onto nearby informal shacks and homes according to an official statement that detailed deployment of significant resources including military personnel for search and rescue. Rescuers employed excavators to sift through the debris as local residents gathered at the scene where fears mounted that the toll could increase further with additional victims possibly trapped underneath.
Prime Minister Mamadou Oury Bah visited the location to evaluate conditions and direct ongoing operations while Health Minister Khaïté Sall toured a hospital treating survivors and confirmed that all injured would receive free medical care with government support assured for affected families. Neighbourhood leader Lancine Sylla told AFP that initial efforts had recovered 18 bodies which were then transferred to the morgue as teams continued combing through the scattered waste. One woman at the site identified as Cire Diallo recounted losing her five children in the collapse.
Cire Diallo told reporters “I have lost all my children. All I can do is put my trust in God.” The personal account underscored the human cost as rescue operations persisted through the enormous pile that witnesses described as large enough to bury an apartment building along with more fragile dwellings. Government statements emphasised that measures were in place to provide treatment and assistance to those impacted by the disaster.
The collapse occurred on the very day the landfill had been scheduled for closure following an announcement days earlier by Territorial Administration Minister Djenab Toure who cited safety risks during the rainy season and outlined plans to relocate waste outside the capital. Authorities had ordered residents in surrounding informal housing to leave yet many remained in the area despite the directive according to reports from multiple outlets including Al Jazeera and The Guardian. The site had previously seen a landslide in 2017 that killed 10 people at the same location.
A World Bank report published in April found that 3.7 million of Guinea’s 15.1 million people live on less than $4.20 per day amid widespread infrastructure shortfalls in the West African nation. Regional accounts have documented similar landfill failures triggered by seasonal torrential rains in countries such as Uganda and Ethiopia in recent years where informal settlements face heightened vulnerability during the wet season. The Dar-es-Salam facility as Conakry’s largest open-air dump had long posed concerns tied to urban waste management challenges.
Opposition figure and former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo speaking from exile called the event “a tragedy that plunges us into dismay” while adding in a social media statement that “This tragedy is all the more worrying because the closure of the landfill had been announced for this Sunday 23 August.” He urged authorities to investigate the circumstances with full transparency and to draw necessary conclusions from the incident. Search teams according to the government’s update remained active at the site as recovery efforts continued into the following day.
