Pascal Arogorn Ibe
No fewer than 50 people were killed after a gold mine collapsed in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, local authorities said on Saturday.
The accident occurred on Friday in the town of Kamituga in South Kivu Province, following days of heavy rain.
The cause of the landslide is currently under investigation.
Provincial Governor Theo Ngwabidje Kasi confirmed in a statement on Saturday that majority of the victims were young people, including children.
Rescuers are continuing to identify the dead and provide assistance.
Local media quoted a survivor as saying that more than 50 people had been in the three shafts, which water had poured in to.
Kamituga Mayor, Alexandre Bundya, decreed a two-day mourning period and called on local residents to help rescuers extract bodies from the ground.
The South Kivu province records landslides every year due to artisanal mining activities in several communities.
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