Mine collapse in eastern Congo kills at least 10
Event date: 2025-04-23
An artisanal gold mine collapsed in Kabare territory in eastern Congo, killing at least 10 people, rebel-appointed authorities said.
The collapse occurred late Wednesday at the Luhihi mine in South Kivu, a region already vulnerable to flooding, landslides and conflict-linked instability. Dunia Masumbuko Bwenge, the rebel-appointed vice-governor, told the Associated Press that the disaster was caused by what he described as a natural disaster linked to climate change. He also said that because the mine was artisanal, there were safety irregularities and workers had not followed regulations.
A separate account from Jean-Jacques Purusi, the former governor before M23 took over, confirmed that a collapse had occurred and said at least six people were dead, though many bodies were still trapped in the rubble. The different figures reflect how difficult it is to verify casualty numbers in remote areas under contested control.
What is not in dispute is the danger of the site itself. Artisanal mines in eastern Congo are often dug and operated with minimal oversight, making them highly vulnerable to cave-ins. Luhihi is in a region where flash floods and landslides are common, and the AP report notes that in 2023 at least 400 people died in flash floods in Kalehe territory nearby.
The disaster also sits inside a larger political reality. Several areas of South Kivu are controlled by M23 rebels, who have taken over territory from the central government. That makes emergency response, casualty counting and rescue operations harder, because official authority is fragmented and accountability is disputed.
The AP story frames the collapse as part environmental, part regulatory and part structural. Heavy rain and unstable ground may have contributed, but so did the informal character of the mine and the lack of safety compliance. In other words, this was not just a natural event; it was a preventable exposure to risk in a sector where workers often operate without protection.
Artisanal mining remains a major source of income across eastern Congo, but it also brings recurrent fatalities. Without stable oversight, support for safer extraction methods or reliable enforcement, the same type of collapse can happen again with little warning.
For now, the death toll is at least 10 and may rise as more bodies are recovered. In a place where both state authority and weather patterns are unstable, even a single mine collapse can become a broader warning about labor safety, disaster preparedness and who bears responsibility when the ground gives way.
