Around 30 people killed in Congo copper mine incident, officials say

17/11/2025 6:28

Around 30 people were killed at a semi-industrial copper mine in southeastern Congo on Saturday after a bridge collapsed, the country's artisanal mining agency said.



An agency official told Reuters there were 49 deaths and 20 people had been taken to hospital in a critical condition as a result of the incident, which occurred on Saturday at the Kalando mining site in Lualaba province.



Artisanal mining employs an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people in Congo and supports more than 10 million indirectly.



The collapse was "caused by panic, reportedly triggered by gunfire from military personnel securing the site," said Congo's Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Support and Guidance Service, known by its French acronym SAEMAPE.