Multiple Casualties Reported After Bridge Failure At DR Congo Mining Site

Emergency teams are combing through the area for anyone who may still be alive after a makeshift bridge gave way at a cobalt mining site in the Democratic Republic of Congo, leaving at least 32 people dead.

According to local official Roy Kaumba Mayonde, groups of miners who were not authorised to be there forced entry into the Kalando mine in the south of the country on Saturday, despite being barred from accessing the area.

Witness accounts gathered by government mining agency SAEMAPE claim that soldiers assigned to secure the location opened fire, triggering chaos as miners stampeded across the bridge, causing it to collapse under the pressure.

Military authorities have yet to address or comment on these claims.

Incidents like this happen frequently in the country, where an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people are involved in informal, loosely regulated artisanal mining that supplies global markets with cobalt, copper and other valuable minerals.

Mayonde described the incident at the Lualaba province mine as “tragic”, noting that many mining operations in the region are “frequently victims of this type of invasion of their concessions by illegal miners”.

He explained that the miners had constructed the bridge themselves, and the fragile structure was unable to withstand the sudden surge of people making a “hasty” crossing.

Photos circulating online, which have not been independently confirmed, seem to show the bodies of victims as shocked residents gather nearby.

In a public message, authorities appealed to artisanal miners to accept government-supported retraining in agribusiness as a way to reduce the likelihood of similar deadly events.

The country remains the largest global producer of cobalt, a mineral critical for electric vehicle batteries as well as defence and aerospace manufacturing.

Cobalt extraction in the region has long been associated with allegations of child exploitation, corruption, unsafe working conditions and other human rights concerns.