Mudslides kill at least 10 miners in eastern DR Congo

Mudslides killed at least 10 people at two makeshift mines in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after torrential rain, local officials said Saturday.

The disasters came after heavy rain overnight Thursday to Friday across the Fizi enclave in South Kivu province, said locals.

The mudslides hit two gold mining sites in the area.

“The provisional toll is 10 people dead, nine others injured, and missing people,” Aime Kaway, the administrator at Fizi, told AFP, adding that it was difficult to know the exact number of missing.

“Most of the victims are artisanal miners and other persons who frequent the two mining sites,” he said.

Onesphore Kabandilwa, a local Red Cross official, whose teams were handling the burial of the victims, confirmed the toll of 10 people.

Search teams were still working to try to recover other bodies, he added.

Floods and landslides provoked by heavy rains often prove deadly in DR Congo.

In mid-December, floods caused by torrential rain killed more than 160 people in the capital Kinshasa, in the west of the country.