Heavy rains washed over the refuse at a landfill in Guinea’s capital Conakry on Sunday, triggering a landslide that buried nearby shacks

A mountainous heap of refuse collapsed at Dar es Salam, the largest landfill in Guinea’s capital Conakry, early on Sunday killing at least 30 people, according to a provisional death toll from the country’s civil protection service.

Heavy rains, which started at around 3am, washed over the refuse, triggering a landslide that buried nearby shacks.

Lancine Sylla, the head of the suburb where the incident happened, said he feared a heavy death toll.

Guinea’s minister for territorial administration, Djenabou Toure, who went to the site, said she was waiting for a search and rescue operation to finish to give an official figure.

The government in recent days had ordered the expulsion of people and safety measures around the site because of a fear of collapses.

The site was designated for closure on Sunday, according to Lieutenant Colonel Balde Mamadou Bailo, the sanitation officer for the Military Engineering Battalion.