Guinea Landfill Collapse Kills 30; Site Faced Closure
Guinea Landfill Collapse Kills 30; Site Faced Closure
The News
A mountainous heap of refuse collapsed at Dar Es Salam, the largest landfill in Guinea's capital Conakry, burying homes and killing 30 people early Sunday after heavy rain, according to an updated toll released by the central government.
The first count was lower. Guinea's civil protection service initially gave a provisional toll of at least 22 dead, reported by the Los Angeles Times and Cleveland.com. Reuters, the BBC, Sky News, The Guardian and The Washington Times later carried the government's revised figure of 30.
What makes this more than a weather story: the government had already slated the site for closure over the risk of exactly this kind of collapse, and a minister had just promised to move it.
Timeline
Guinea's government ordered expulsions and safety measures at Dar Es Salam specifically because of collapse risks, and residents near the site were served eviction notices. Many had not left.
Rain began falling around 3 a.m., washing over the refuse mound and triggering the slide onto shacks below.
Guinea's civil protection service reports a provisional toll of at least 22 dead. A local official tells AFP that 18 bodies have been pulled out and taken to a morgue.
The central government releases an updated toll of 30 dead. Rescue teams and excavators are still working the site.
Reactions
A local woman who lost her five children in the collapse told reporters: "I have lost all my children. All I can do is put my trust in God," according to The Independent.
Djenabou Toure, Guinea's territorial administration minister, pledged to relocate the families still living around the landfill.
The Guardian noted the pointed timing — the dump site that collapsed is one a minister had just promised to move.
What's Next
The search continues, and the toll may rise: rescuers and excavators are still digging for survivors and bodies, which is how the count went from 22 to 30 in a single day.
The open question for Guinea's government is enforcement — how many people near Dar Es Salam never received eviction notices or ignored them, and why the site was still operating and still inhabited when it gave way.
More
Dar Es Salam is the largest landfill serving Conakry, the capital of the west African state of Guinea. The collapse buried several homes at the edge of the site.
Coverage of the disaster crossed the usual lines quickly — Reuters, the BBC and Sky News on one side of the spectrum, Fox News and The Washington Times on the other, all reporting the same government toll of 30.
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