At least 30 killed after massive waste pile collapses, trapping victims beneath garbage (Guinea)

Fox News via NY Post ^ | 8/23/26 | Bonny Chu

[Libloather]

At least 30 people were killed in a massive landslide in Guinea on Sunday when a mountainous open-air landfill collapsed and buried nearby shacks, trapping numerous victims beneath a mass of garbage.

The incident happened at Dar Es Salam, the largest waste dump in the West African country’s capital, Conakry, according to a report from The Associated Press.

Guinea News reported that the weight of the waste caused a three-story building beneath it to cave in.

Authorities said heavy rainfall also washed over the refuse overnight, creating hazardous conditions at the landfill, according to the AP

Six people were seriously injured and several homes were destroyed in the incident, according to reports. Officials launched a search-and-rescue operation to find any survivors.

The AP reported that the landfill was originally scheduled to close Sunday after officials warned of hazardous conditions, citing Lt. Col. Baldé Mamadou Bailo, the sanitation officer for the military engineering battalion.

The decision followed reports of a similar incident at the landfill in recent years, raising concerns about its safety.

As a precautionary measure, residents who lived near the site had also been given eviction notices and were forced to vacate the area, the AP said.

[VTenigma]

Thread winner!

[Bigg Red]

Yep

[Bigg Red]

I suspect that those people chose to live there because they were garbage pickers living off their finds. Third World values....

[Bon of Babble]

This will happen in the U.S. soon enough - with 3rd world demographic changes.

[Flaming Conservative]

How pathetic that human beings are so wretched that they have to live below a garbage dump. I know our country has many problems, but I thank God that we are not a third world hell-hole. There but for the grace of God...

[Henry Hnyellar]

Coming to a blue city near you.

[Noumenon]

That was almost every day during my former corporate IT career.

[muir_redwoods]

There are a lot of bad ways to go. This is clearly one of them near the top.

[Libloather]

Give the rescue team time and a half. Oh, my.

[Albion Wilde]

I was watching a documentary recently and it turns out a large percentage of all donated clothes in America get shipped to Africa and end up in dumps like this.

One of the main reasons for this is the widespread use of polyester in garments. It is not "breathable", it stains easily, it can be damaged by ironing, it can ignite easily and is not safe for sleepwear, children or smokers, and people end up discarding items they thought were fashionable or even practical because they are so uncomfortable. Such fabrics are not suitable for most fiber recycling methods, including rag paper manufacturing. Even quilters hate them.

[Albion Wilde]

Lest we think this can only happen in the third world, it also happened in UK in the coal-mining town of Aberfan, Wales, in 1966. After weeks of heavy rain, a mountainous heap of mining waste inundated a children's school and a row of houses, killing 16 children and 28 adults.

Aberfan disaster (Welsh: Trychineb Aberfan)

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip paid a condolence visit to Aberfan:

In defense of UK, I traveled extensively in England and Scotland in that same year, 1966, barely out of my teens, and was astonished at the often-primitive conditions of the working classes in a country that had not yet reached the level of middle-class expectations of the US after the devastations of WW1 and WW2. Working people in row houses often did not have indoor toilets, but used an outhouse in the back or in the alley. In some areas, there was only one privy for an entire row. Even this year, we heard massive complaints about the lack of air conditioning in UK and France during an unusual heat wave.

Don't take America for granted, people.