Gold Miners Feared Dead in Congo After Landslide
An official with the armed group that controls the area in eastern Congo where the mining accident occurred confirmed the landslide in a phone call on Tuesday. The official, Élie Rubabura, said that a team was searching for people in 14 shafts at the site in Lomera.
While thousands of miners have been digging in Lomera in recent months, the number of miners who were in the shafts on Sunday is not known. Twelve people have been rescued, Mr. Rubabura, said, adding that the number of missing would be released only once the search was over.
The Lomera site is an artisanal mine, meaning it is not operated by a mining company with professional equipment but by workers who use basic tools to extract ore, often in dangerous conditions.
Official information on any casualties and exactly how many people are missing has been difficult to confirm. Lomera is in territory controlled by M23, a militia backed by neighboring Rwanda. After the landslide, M23 shut down all mining and trading in Lomera until further notice, prompting many people to leave the village.
On Tuesday, M23 members walked around the site issuing instructions to those who remained, telling them not to film or speak to journalists. There was no sign that a serious search for survivors was underway.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
An attack on a Congolese church killed nearly 40 worshippers. Here's what to know
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nearly 40 people were killed Sunday in eastern Congo's Ituri province when rebels stormed a Catholic church during a vigil and opened fire on worshippers, including many women and children. At least 38 people were confirmed dead in the church while another five were killed in a nearby village. The victims included 19 men, 15 women and nine children. The attacks in Komanda town in the conflict-battered region were carried out by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group backed by the Islamic State that has mostly targeted villagers in eastern Congo and across the border in Uganda, the Congolese army said. The ADF arose from tensions in neighboring Uganda The ADF has roots in Uganda in the 1990s. Following the overthrow of long-term dictator, Idi Amin, a coalition of various discontent groups saw the new government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni as anti-Muslim. Since then, the group has grown into a potent force but has been pushed out of Uganda's territories and now operates in the borderlands between Uganda and Congo, often targeting civilians in remote villages. ADF leaders pledged allegiance in 2019 to the Islamic State and have sought to establish an Islamic caliphate in Uganda. Eastern Congo has been beleaguered by protracted conflicts for decades, dating back to the Rwanda genocide in 1994. The conflicts have involved more than a hundred armed groups, according to the United Nations. The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group is the most prominent and launched a blitz of attacks in January in a major escalation culiminating in its capture of two key cities in the region. The Congolese and Ugandan armies have targeted the ADF in a joint military effort but analysts say it has done little, even as the rebels attack civilians. 'These joint operations have only succeeded in dispersing the ADF without really protecting civilians from their wrathful reprisals,' said Onesphore Sematumba, the Congo analyst at the International Crisis Group. This presents complex headaches for the overstretched Congolese army, which is occupied with advances by M23 and other rebel groups in the mineral-rich region. 'The ADF is taking more or less the advantage of the Congolese army's and international diplomacy's focus on the M23 further south without attracting too much attention,' Sematumba said. Attack targeted worshippers at midnight The church attack Sunday was the latest in a series of deadly ADF assaults on civilians, including earlier this month when the group killed 66 people in Ituri province. The attack happened July 11 around 1 a.m. during a vigil at a Catholic church in Komanda, civil society leaders and survivors. It followed an attack a few hours earlier in the nearby village of Machongani, where five people were killed and houses razed. The attackers were believed to have come from a stronghold about 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Komanda and fled before security forces arrived. Attack expected to worsen situation The attack Sunday has sent shockwaves around the Central African country, which is currently embroiled in numerous conflicts. The Congolese government condemned it as 'horrific" while the military described it as a 'large-scale massacre' carried out in revenge for recent security operations targeting the ADF. However, M23 used the attack to accuse the governemnt of 'blatant incompetence' in attempts to protect citizens.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Washington Post
Train derailment that killed 3 in Germany apparently was caused by landslide
BERLIN — Investigators believe a landslide, brought on by heavy rainfall, likely caused a regional train to derail in southern Germany , killing three people and injuring 41 more. More than 100 people were aboard the Deutsche Bahn train when at least two carriages derailed Sunday evening in a forested area near Riedlingen , about 158 kilometers (98 miles) west of Munich.
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Associated Press
Train derailment that killed 3 in Germany apparently was caused by landslide
BERLIN (AP) — Investigators believe a landslide, brought on by heavy rainfall, likely caused a regional train to derail in southern Germany, killing three people and injuring 41 more. More than 100 people were aboard the Deutsche Bahn train when at least two carriages derailed Sunday evening in a forested area near Riedlingen, about 158 kilometers (98 miles) west of Munich. The train's driver, another employee and a passenger were killed, police said early Monday. Some of the 41 injured were seriously hurt. Police said the downpours in the area caused a sewage shaft to overflow, likely triggering the landslide of an embankment where the derailment occurred. There was no evidence of an external influence that could have caused the derailment, police said.
