Up to 500 miners buried by landslides in eastern Congo

Kinshasa [Democratic Republic of the Congo], July 23: 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 said. Volunteers are working to recover the remaining bodies and survivors, he said. Information on the exact number of casualties is difficult to verify, as the affected miners did not work for a company but were working in the informal mining sector in the resource-rich area. Numerous internally displaced people who had fled the ongoing fighting between government troops and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo are also said to be among those buried. The hilly area was recently hit by heavy rains. According to the police spokesman, landslides were also reported in villages in the region. However, there have been no reports of casualties so far.
Source: Qatar Tribune