In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), local residents are battling with their bare hands and rudimentary tools to rescue miners trapped in collapsed gold mine shafts.
The collapse occurred early Sunday morning in the gold-rich village of Lomera, located in South Kivu province.
So far, six miners have been pulled from the debris alive, one of whom sustained serious injuries, according to journalist Ashuza Barack, who spoke to the BBC.
The full extent of the tragedy remains uncertain, as different sources report conflicting information about the number of casualties.
While one local resident claimed 12 bodies had been discovered, Barack noted that no bodies had been officially recovered at the time of reporting.
The situation in Lomera is particularly complex because the region has been under the control of the M23 rebel group, which seized parts of eastern DR Congo earlier this year.
The M23, however, has denied claims that hundreds of miners remain trapped underground, contradicting what locals and survivors are reporting.
Lomera, once a quiet and relatively unknown village, experienced a sudden transformation following the discovery of gold deposits in the nearby hills late last year.
Thousands of people poured into the area in search of fortune, becoming part of a wave of artisanal, or freelance, miners.
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) described the scene as a “sprawling chaos of mineshafts and makeshift shelters,” emphasizing the unregulated and haphazard nature of mining operations in the area.
MSF had previously raised concerns about a cholera outbreak due to poor sanitation and overcrowding.
The collapse is believed to have been caused by a chain of landslides that buried at least 15 makeshift mining tunnels.
These artisanal shafts are often dug without proper safety precautions or structural reinforcement, making them vulnerable to collapse, particularly during heavy rainfall or minor seismic activity.
Rescue operations have been severely hampered by the lack of adequate equipment.
Debris, large rocks, and the unstable nature of the soil have slowed down the efforts significantly.
Local miners and residents, many of whom are relatives of the trapped victims, continue to dig manually, fueled by hope and desperation.
“We’ve been digging since Sunday night but haven’t found any bodies. We’re exhausted,” one volunteer told reporters at the site.
Officials from the M23 visited Lomera after the incident and ordered an immediate suspension of all mining activities in parts of the area.
However, enforcement and coordination remain weak, as the region struggles under the weight of ongoing armed conflict and humanitarian challenges.
South Kivu and neighboring provinces are rich in minerals such as gold, cobalt, and coltan, critical components for the global electronics industry.
Yet, most of the mining in this region is informal and unregulated.
As a result, safety standards are often ignored, and the risk to human life remains alarmingly high.
For decades, eastern DR Congo has been engulfed in cycles of conflict involving government forces and a myriad of armed groups vying for control of lucrative mining zones.
The instability has created a humanitarian crisis and made it difficult to establish consistent regulatory oversight of the mining sector.
The M23 rebel group, which launched a major offensive earlier this year, now controls significant swathes of territory, including Goma, the largest city in eastern DR Congo.
Over the weekend, the M23 and the Congolese government signed a ceasefire agreement during peace talks facilitated by Qatar.
However, it remains to be seen whether this deal will hold or lead to meaningful change on the ground.
Meanwhile, in Lomera, families and miners continue their desperate search for survivors, working through exhaustion and grief in a tragedy that underscores the perils of informal mining and the broader consequences of prolonged conflict in the region.
