A landslide crushed at least eight people and seriously injured nine others near an artisanal mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, a local official told sources on Saturday.
The injured are in critical condition and are being treated at a local medical facility, Aime Kawaya Mutipula, administrator of Fizi territory in South Kivu province, announced by phone. Landslides are fairly common on the hilly slopes of eastern Congo, where heavy rains can saturate and loosen the soil. However, they are more likely to occur if the soil has been disturbed by mining, logging or construction. In December, intense rains caused floods and landslides in Congo’s capital Kinshasa that killed about 170 people.
