At least 32 killed in southeastern Congo after bridge at mine collapsed, authorities say
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- At least 32 miners died Saturday when a bridge collapsed at the Kalando cobalt mine in southeastern Congo.
- Officials blamed panic sparked by soldiers’ gunfire, as illegal miners rushed across the makeshift bridge.
- The tragedy underscores dangers in Congo’s cobalt mining sector, where child labor and unsafe conditions are common.
BUKAVU, Congo — An overcrowded bridge at a mine in southeastern Congo collapsed, killing at least 32 people, a regional government official said Sunday.
The bridge at the Kalando mine in Mulondo in Lualaba province fell Saturday, said Roy Kaumba Mayonde, the province’s interior minister, at a Sunday news conference.
“Despite the strict prohibition on accessing the site due to heavy rainfall and the risk of landslides, illegal diggers forced their way into the quarry,” Mayonde said.
A report released Sunday by the Congolese government agency known as the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Support and Guidance Service said the gunfire from soldiers at the site sparked panic among the miners who rushed to the bridge, resulting in the fall that left them “piled on top of each other causing the deaths and injuries.”
Though Mayonde put the death toll at 32 or more, the report said at least 40 people had lost their lives.
The mine has long been at the center of a dispute among wildcat miners, a cooperative meant to organize operations, and the site’s legal operators, the report added.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a mineral used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other products, with Chinese companies controlling 80% of the production in the central African country.
Accusations of child labor, unsafe conditions and corruption have long plagued the country’s mining industry.
Mineral-rich eastern Congo has for decades been ripped apart by violence from government forces and different armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23, whose recent resurgence has escalated the conflict, worsening an acute humanitarian crisis.
Barhahiga and Banchereau write for the Associated Press and reported from Bukavu and Dakar, Senegal, respectively.
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