Mudslides killed at least 10 people in two makeshift mines in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after heavy rains, local officials said Saturday.
The disaster occurred after heavy rains from Thursday to Friday passed through the enclave of Fizi in South Kivu province, local residents said.
Mudslides affected two gold mining sites in the area.
“The provisional toll is 10 people killed, nine others injured, and people missing,” Aime Kaway, an administrator in Fizi, told AFP, adding that it was difficult to know how many were missing.
“Most of the victims of artisanal mining and other people who frequent the two mining locations,” he said.
Onesphore Kabandilwa, a local Red Cross official, whose team handled the burial of the victims, confirmed the death toll at 10.
Search teams are still working to try to recover other bodies, he added.
Floods and landslides caused by heavy rains are often deadly in DR Congo.
In mid-December, floods caused by heavy rains killed more than 160 people in the capital Kinshasa, in the western part of the country.