Landslip kills six in Ivory Coast

Six people died overnight after torrential rain triggered a landslip in Ivory Coast's economic capital Abidjan, the emergency services said Thursday.

Four adults and two children were killed, and two people were hospitalised 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 neighbourhood in the western district of Attecoube.

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.

"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.