At least 32 people are de.ad after a bridge at a copper and cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo collapsed due to overcrowding
According to reports from the Associated Press, AFP and Al Jazeera, a bridge at the Kalando mine, located in the southeastern province of Lualaba, fell on Saturday, Nov. 15.
Roy Kaumba Mayonde, the province’s interior minister, said during a press conference that illegal diggers made their way into the quarry.
“Despite a formal ban on access to the site because of the heavy rain and the risk of a landslide, wildcat miners forced their way into the quarry,” Mayonde said, adding that the bridge was a makeshift structure that was created to help miners get across a flooded trench.
Photos obtained by AFP from the provincial office of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) showed miners digging out bodies from the trench, as at least 17 bodies lay on the ground nearby.
A report from the Congo’s Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Support and Guidance Service (SAEMAPE), obtained by the outlets on Sunday, Nov. 16, said that miners panicked after nearby soldiers opened fire.
The miners then rushed to the bridge and it collapsed, leaving them “piled on top of each other, causing the deaths and injuries.” The report estimated that at least 40 people had died, and operations at the site were suspended on Sunday.
According to the report, the Kalando mine has been the focal point of a long-lasting dispute between the wildcat miners — a cooperative meant to organize digging operations there — and the site’s legal operators.
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This is so unfortunate
SAD