Bukavu: Up to 500 miners are believed to be trapped in eastern Congo, following a series of landslides, police in the province of South Kivu said on Tuesday. Ten bodies have been recovered since the collapse in a remote area on Sunday, a police spokesman reported. Volunteers are actively working to recover the remaining bodies and survivors.
According to Ghana News Agency, information on the exact number of casualties is difficult to verify, as the affected miners were not employed by any formal company but were part of the informal mining sector in the resource-rich area. Numerous internally displaced people, who had fled the ongoing conflict between government troops and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo, are also reportedly among those buried.
The region, characterized by its hilly terrain, was recently hit by heavy rains, contributing to the landslides. The police spokesman indicated that landslides were also reported in nearby villages, but there have been no reports of casualties in those areas so far.
