Ivory Coast: deadly landslide north of Abidjan

Text by: Pierre Pinto Follow

At least 13 dead, this is the provisional assessment of a landslide that occurred on Thursday in Anyama, a commune in the north of Abidjan. Several dwellings located below the railway line that goes to Burkina were buried under meters of mud.

Publicity

From our correspondent in Abidjan,

At around 8 a.m. on Thursday morning, the hill on which the railroad passes above this district, dubbed by its inhabitants "Anyama behind rails", literally melted on some twenty houses below, 5 to 6 common concrete blocks and cement inhabited by families.

As it was raining, many of these "resourceful" people, as they are called here, these people who live from day to day, did not go out to work. They stayed at home.

Rescuers arrived and had extracted 13 bodies at the end of the afternoon. But the assessment could therefore be much heavier and research will continue this Friday.

What caused this landslide?

Above this small hamlet of a few hundred inhabitants crosses the railroad which goes to Burkina. Now the rails, over 50m, are suspended above the void. Behind this hillock which therefore no longer exists, was a basin which collected the rainwater flowing from the hill behind.

And according to several witnesses on the spot, a water evacuation tunnel made it possible to empty this bowl. But, still according to residents we met, this tunnel was blocked by a newcomer 3 months ago. The water has risen especially since the start of the rainy season a few weeks ago. And the heavy rains of the past few days will have completely weakened the completely soaked ground.

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• Ivory Coast