A towering heap of garbage collapsed onto homes in Guinea on Sunday, killing at least 30 people and leaving rescuers searching through dangerous debris for possible survivors. The disaster struck communities beside the largest open-air landfill in the capital city of Conakry, as reported by Fox News.

The landslide occurred at the Dar Es Salam waste dump after heavy overnight rainfall soaked the sprawling mountain of refuse.

The immense weight then shifted downhill, crushing shacks and trapping victims beneath layers of garbage, mud, and wreckage.

In Guinea, a landslide of garbage engulfed residential buildings – 30 people died.

According to Le Monde, a giant landfill moved due to prolonged rainfall in a suburb of Conakry. The flow of garbage collapsed on residential buildings, burying dozens of people. Another 22 people… pic.twitter.com/yFKXKoBYjl — (@SprinterPress) August 24, 2026

Guinea News reported that a three-story building beneath the waste collapsed under the pressure.

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Several surrounding homes were also destroyed as the debris swept through an area where families had continued living despite repeated concerns about the landfill.

Authorities said at least six people suffered serious injuries. Emergency crews, residents, and volunteers joined the search, using an excavator and other equipment to dig through the unstable mound while looking for anyone still alive.

Images from the scene showed rescuers standing across an enormous field of refuse as heavy machinery clawed through the wreckage.

The hazardous conditions complicated every movement, since additional sections of saturated garbage could shift without warning.

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The Associated Press reported that officials had already planned to close the landfill on Sunday because of its dangerous condition.

Lt. Col. Baldé Mamadou Bailo, the sanitation officer for the military engineering battalion, said warnings had been issued before the collapse.

Those warnings now carry a grim weight. Authorities recognized that the site posed a serious threat, yet the disaster arrived before the planned closure could protect the families who remained within reach of the towering garbage pile.

Residents near the dump had received eviction notices and were ordered to leave as a precaution, according to the Associated Press.

Even so, reports indicated that many people remained near the site when the garbage mountain gave way.

The reasons some residents stayed were not immediately detailed. What is clear is that the warnings, notices, and scheduled closure failed to prevent a devastating death toll at a landfill whose hazards were hardly a secret.

Dienabou Touré, Guinea's minister of territorial administration and decentralization, visited the scene as rescue efforts continued.

"We will ensure that the remaining families are relocated elsewhere," Touré said, according to the Associated Press.

Relocation has now become an urgent matter rather than another item waiting on an official agenda.

Families still living near the dump face an obvious threat while the rainy conditions continue to make the unstable waste even more dangerous.

The Dar Es Salam landfill had experienced deadly trouble before. Reuters reported that torrential rainfall triggered a mudslide there in 2017, killing at least eight people and raising serious concerns about the safety of nearby communities.

That earlier tragedy should have left no doubt about the risks surrounding the site.

Nearly a decade later, another collapse has produced an even larger death toll, along with painful questions about why residents remained exposed to a known danger.

Rescue teams continued searching for victims as officials assessed the destruction. With homes buried and the debris field still unstable, authorities had not determined how many people might remain missing beneath the garbage.

The catastrophe has left Conakry confronting both an immediate rescue operation and a larger public safety failure.

For the families waiting for news, however, the urgent concern remains whether anyone else can be pulled alive from the wreckage.

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