Rescuers dig with bare hands for trapped miners in Lomera

People in the gold mining area in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo use their bare hands and their basic tools for the liberation of miners trapped underground.

Local journalist Ashuza Barak told the BBC that he was alive, with one serious injury, as Mahawi collapsed in Lamira in the early hours of Sunday.

There were conflicting reports on the death toll. One of the residents said that 12 bodies were found, but Barak said that no bodies had been recovered.

The area, in South Kivu Province, was under the control of the M23 rebels since they seized the east of Dr. Kongo -rich minerals earlier this year. M23 rejected reports that hundreds of underground were trapped.

Lomra has witnessed a golden rush since the end of last year when the precious ore was discovered in the hills near what was a quiet village at the time, according to Medical Charity.

In a statement about cholera in the area last month, MSF said in a statement about the outbreak of cholera in the area last month:

Reports stated that a series of successive landslides are buried up to 15 of these temporary columns without warning.

The rescue efforts slowed with the continued debris and the large stones in preventing arrival.

Journalist BABC told the lack of appropriate equipment that hindered attempts to cleanse the site. The survivors told him that many miners are still stuck.

One of the miners said: “We have been dug since Sunday night, but we have not treated any bodies. We have exhausted,” said a mining worker.

Officials from M23 visited the site and ordered mining activities to stop in parts of the area.

Dozens of mining sites across this region of Dr Cono provides the global electronics industry with biomedus and minerals. Many of them are not properly organized and safety standards are not observed.

The region was also exposed through the conflict decades ago, as the various rebel groups and the government were fighting control.

M23 has made great regional gains earlier this year, as it seized Goma, the main city in the eastern Congo.

It signed a ceasefire with the government on the weekend in talks in which Qatar mediated.