At Least 32 Dead After Bridge Collapsed Due to Overcrowding

At least 32 people were killed and dozens more feared missing after a makeshift bridge collapsed inside a chaotic mining site in southeastern Congo, authorities confirmed Sunday.

Officials say the deadly collapse occurred on Saturday at the Kalando mine, a sprawling copper and cobalt operation in Lualaba province, after hundreds of unauthorized miners rushed across a crude wooden bridge built to span a flooded trench. The structure buckled under their weight, sending scores plunging into muddy water and debris below.

Provincial Interior Minister Roy Kaumba Mayonde called the scene “a human tragedy that could have been avoided.” He said the area had been closed due to heavy rains and risk of landslides, but “wildcat miners forced their way in, ignoring warnings.”

“The bridge was never meant to carry that many people,” Mayonde said at a press briefing. “It was a makeshift path built by the miners themselves.”

Witnesses described scenes of panic and confusion moments before the collapse. According to an internal report from the Congo’s Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Support and Guidance Service (SAEMAPE), the disaster began after soldiers guarding the site fired warning shots to disperse the crowd.

“The miners panicked and ran for the bridge all at once,” the report stated. “It gave way instantly, and people fell on top of each other in the trench.”

Grim photos released by the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) show bodies lined up near the flooded pit as survivors, covered in mud, dug frantically through the wreckage. “We pulled out 17 bodies in one hour,” said local volunteer rescuer Pascal Mwamba. “There were cries for help coming from beneath the mud, but we couldn’t reach them.”

By Sunday, at least 32 bodies had been recovered, though officials with SAEMAPE warned the toll could rise to 40 or more. Mining operations at Kalando have been suspended pending an investigation.

The Kalando mine sits at the center of an ongoing power struggle between so-called artisanal miners—local diggers operating without licenses—and corporate mine owners backed by the government. More than 10,000 such miners are estimated to work at Kalando, often under brutal and unsafe conditions.

“This is not just an accident. It’s a symptom of the larger exploitation crisis in Congo’s mining sector,” said human rights activist Arthur Kabulo, the CNDH’s provincial coordinator. “People are dying to extract cobalt for electric cars and smartphones.”

The Initiative for the Protection of Human Rights has called for an independent inquiry into the military’s role, citing allegations that soldiers’ gunfire directly triggered the stampede.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo produces more than 70% of the world’s cobalt—a critical component in lithium-ion batteries used by tech giants and electric vehicle manufacturers. But the industry has long been shadowed by allegations of corruption, child labor, and unsafe conditions in artisanal mines.

“Every smartphone and EV battery has a piece of Congo in it,” said mining analyst Dr. Robert Ellis of the Global Resource Institute. “The tragedy at Kalando is a reminder that these minerals come at a devastating human cost.”

As night fell Sunday, grieving families gathered outside the mine gates, lighting candles for the victims. “My brother just wanted to feed his children,” said one woman, clutching a photograph of a young man covered in dust. “Now he’s gone because no one cared if that bridge would hold.”