Mudslides left no fewer than 10 people dead at two makeshift mines in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following torrential rain, local officials disclosed on Sunday morning.
Africa Today News, New York reports that 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 reporters, 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.
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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.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that in mid-December, floods caused by torrential rain killed more than 160 people in the capital Kinshasa, in the west of the country.
In a related development, rescue workers in Burkina Faso are working round the clock to reach eight miners who have been trapped underground for more than two weeks following a mishap.
Africa Today News, New York reports that this followed the flooding of a zinc mine at Perkoa following heavy rain last month.
At least six of the miners are reportedly from Burkina Faso and the other two are from Zambia and Tanzania.
The government of Burkina Faso has launched a judicial enquiry and the mine managers are for now not allowed to leave the country.
The Canadian mining company, Trevali, says it is working 24 hours a day to locate the missing miners.