At least 32 killed in southeastern Congo after bridge at mine collapsed, authorities say

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BUKAVU, Congo (AP) — A bridge at a copper and cobalt mine in southeastern Congo collapsed due to overcrowding, killing at least 32 people, a regional government official said Sunday.

The bridge at the Kalando mine in Mulondo in Lualaba province fell on Saturday, Roy Kaumba Mayonde, the province's interior minister, said during a press conference.

“Despite the strict prohibition on accessing the site due to heavy rainfall and the risk of landslides, illegal diggers forced their way into the quarry,” Mayonde said.

A report by the Congo’s Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Support and Guidance Service, or SAEMAPE, government agency on Sunday said the gunfire from soldiers at the site sparked panic among the miners who rushed to the bridge resulting in the fall that left them “piled on top of each other causing the deaths and injuries.” While Mayonde put the death toll at at least 32, the report said at least 40 people had lost their lives.

The presence of soldiers at the mine had long been at the center of a dispute between wildcat miners, a cooperative meant to organize operations, and the site’s legal operators, the report added.

Congo is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a mineral used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other products, with Chinese companies controlling 80% of the production in the central African country.

Accusations of child labor, unsafe conditions, and corruption have long plagued the country's cobalt mining industry.

Mineral-rich eastern Congo has for decades been ripped apart by violence from government forces and different armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23, whose recent resurgence has escalated the conflict, worsening an already acute humanitarian crisis.

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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.