Cango, August 20: At least 10 miners were killed when a diamond mine in central Democratic Republic of Congo caved in, a local official said on Thursday.
The victims, miners working on a concession belonging to state diamond miner Societe Miniere de Bakwanga (MIBA), were buried when an underground gallery collapsed late on Tuesday.
“There are 10 dead so far. Six bodies have so far been dug out,” said Joseph Nkongolo, mayor of Mbuji-Mayi, the capital of Congo’s diamond-rich Eastern Kasai province.
Jean-Marie Kabuya, head of a local miners’ union, told U.N.-supported Radio Okapi on Thursday that 18 people had disappeared in the cave-in and were believed to be dead.
Tens of thousands of diggers work in primitive pit mines and underground galleries around Mbuji-Mayi. Cave-ins are common.
Congo’s diamond industry, once a mainstay of the vast central African nation’s mining-based economy, has been hit hard by the global downturn and the drop in demand for luxury goods.
Industrial mining at MIBA concessions is currently suspended. De Beers, the world’s largest producer of diamonds, pulled out of Congo earlier this year.
Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito said earlier this week the troubled company will require about $100 million to help it relaunch its mining operations
—-Agencies