GOMA: At least 50 people are thought to have died when an artisanal gold mine collapsed near Kamituga in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday afternoon, a local mining NGO said.
The cave-in occurred on the “Detroit” mine site at around 3 p.m. local (1300 GMT) following heavy rains, said Emiliane Itongwa, president of the Initiative of Support and Social Supervision of Women.
“Several miners were in the shaft which was covered and no one could get out. We are talking about 50 young people,” Itongwa said.
Photos and videos on social media showed hundreds of people, some of whom could be heard wailing on a hillside around the mine-shaft entrance.
