Guinea buries 36 victims of Conakry landfill collapse

Guinea held a mass funeral attended by thousands on Friday for the 36 people killed in a landfill collapse in a suburb of the capital last month following heavy rains.

Many of the victims were sleeping when part of the massive garbage dump, located near homes in the Dar-es-Salam neighbourhood, gave way overnight between August 22 and 23.

During the ceremony Friday, authorities announced an updated toll of 36, including that there were 17 Sierra Leonean nationals among the dead.

The three dozen bodies were taken to a mosque in Bambeto, a Conakry suburb, for Muslim funeral prayers.

Many mourners struggled to make sense of the tragedy. "We are completely disillusioned. We are deeply troubled by this tragedy. We don’t know what to do," said Aboubacar Camara, who survived the collapse.

Among the crowd of thousands, several women overcome with grief fell into a trance-like state, an AFP journalist witnessed.

"Guinea is in mourning, and we share the suffering of the victims' loved ones," Conakry Governor General Mahawa Cisse said during the ceremony.

Afterwards, the bodies were taken to the Bambeto cemetery for their burial, attended by family, religious leaders and government officials.

Around twenty people remain hospitalised, and more than 1,600 people have received assistance, according to the country's emergency management agency.

Since the collapse, authorities have been demolishing houses in the zone considered at risk from the rubbish dump, citing the need to protect the population from another tragedy.

The residents have criticised the difficult conditions under which the operation was carried out and are calling for relocation assistance.