Near an artisanal mine in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on Friday, a landslide killed at least eight people and critically injured nine more, a local official told newsmen on Saturday.
The injured are being treated at a nearby hospital and are in severe condition, according to Aime Kawaya Mutipula, the administrator of the Fizi region in South Kivu Province.
In the mountainous slopes of eastern Congo, where heavy rains can saturate and loosen soil, landslides are rather frequent. However, they are more likely to happen if soil has been disturbed due to building, mining, or tree-felling.
Around 170 people were killed by landslides and flooding in the Congo’s capital Kinshasa in December as a result of heavy rains.
It should be recalled that at least 14 mourners were killed and several others injured after a landslide in Damas neighbourhood in Yaounde, Cameroon.
The people had converged to mourn members of their families who had died. The disaster happened in the working-class district of Damas, on the eastern outskirts of the capital.
A police cordon prevented reporters from getting closer to the scene of the disaster.