{"id":2000104235,"date":"2026-03-05T09:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T07:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000104235"},"modified":"2026-03-05T11:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:04:08","slug":"over-200-killed-in-mine-collapse-in-dr-congo-official","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/over-200-killed-in-mine-collapse-in-dr-congo-official\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 200 killed in mine collapse in DR Congo: official"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The incident occurred at the Rubaya mining sites, known for the coltan resources, in North Kivu province following “exceptionally heavy rains,” according to a statement issued by the DRC Ministry of Mines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the provisional toll, more than 200 people lost their lives, including around 70 minors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rubaya mining zone has been under the control of the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group since 2024, making rescue operations particularly difficult, the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ministry noted that the mining zone had previously been reclassified since November as a “red zone,” a designation that formally prohibits mining and mineral trading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There was indeed a landslide following heavy rainfall on the mountain known as Kasasa. The earth swallowed many people,” David Kasereka, an artisanal miner and resident of Rubaya, told Xinhua on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The M23 has not yet commented on the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January, at least 200 people were killed after several shafts collapsed at coltan mining sites in Rubaya. Local media reported that the death toll may have exceeded 400, excluding those still missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coltan, or columbite-tantalite, is the main source of tantalum, a rare metal used in the production of advanced electronic devices. The United Nations estimated that the Rubaya mines alone account for about 15 percent of the global tantalum supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Miners load excavated ore at a coltan mining site in the town of Rubaya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on May 7, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 200 people were killed on Tuesday in a mine collapse in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the DRC government said Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000104239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[99],"byline":[235],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000104235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-xinhua"],"bylines":[{"id":235,"name":"Xinhua","slug":"xinhua","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":80}],"contributors":[{"id":235,"name":"Xinhua","slug":"xinhua","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":80}],"featured_image":{"id":2000104239,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/gh.jpeg","alt":"","caption":"iners load excavated ore at a coltan mining site in the town of Rubaya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on May 7, 2025.","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":900,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/gh.jpeg","width":150,"height":100},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/gh.jpeg","width":300,"height":200},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/gh.jpeg","width":768,"height":512},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/gh.jpeg","width":900,"height":600},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/gh.jpeg","width":900,"height":600}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000104235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000104235"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000104235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000104253,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000104235\/revisions\/2000104253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000104239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000104235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000104235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000104235"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000104235"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000104235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}