Over 50 people have died following a gold mine accident in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday.
According to local authorities on Saturday, the gold mine collapsed as a result of the heavy rainfall.
The accident occurred in the makeshift mine located in the town of Kamituga, in South Kivu province.
Provincial governor Theo Ngwabidje Kasi was saddened by “the tragic deaths of 50 people, most of them young”.
Kamituga mayor Alexandre Bundya disclosed that the numbers of victims involved in the accident is not yet certain.
Bundya blamed “soil subsidence caused by torrential rain” for the accident.
According to a local resident who was at the scene of the incident said eyewitnesses claimed that “there are more than 50 dead. There is only one survivor.”
He stated that a river close to the mine had flooded after torrential rain.
“Water went into the three tunnels. When people tried to get out, there was no way as the water was flowing strongly, with high pressure,” he said.
The mayor decreed a two-day mourning period for the lost miners.
He also appealed to local residents to help extract the bodies from the ground.
A representative of the civil society, Nicolas Kyalangalilwa said “investigations must be carried out to find out the causes of this disaster”.
He called on authorities to take responsibility instead of taxing these miners.
