Landslip kills six in Ivory Coast

• Six people died overnight in Abidjan, the economic hub of Ivory Coast.
• Four adults and two children killed.
• Two people hospitalized with injuries.

Six people died overnight in Abidjan, the economic hub of Ivory Coast, after torrential rain prompted a landslide, according to rescue services.

Four adults and two children were killed, and two people were hospitalized with injuries, the fire brigade said in a statement posted on social media.

Prime Minister Patrick Achi visited the site of the accident, which occurred in Mossikro, a neighborhood in the western district of Attecoube.

Read more: I.Coast’s Ouattara names regional bank chief as deputy

Landslips during the rainy season are a notorious risk in Abidjan, a fast-growing city of five million people.

The authorities earlier this month launched an operation to destroy shanty dwellings built in vulnerable areas.

Those forced out of their homes under this programme are temporarily rehoused, the government says.

Read more: WHO: 780 monkeypox outbreak cases

“Mossikro… has been identified as a zone at risk, and since March and April, people there have been advised that they should leave without fail,” the ministry of water works said in a statement.

Failure or delay in heeding the warning is “suicidal”, it said.

Previous accidents claimed 18 lives in June 2018 and 13 in June 2020.