{"id":59450,"date":"2026-02-02T12:32:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T09:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/news\/more-than-two-hundred-people-died-in-a-mine-collapse-in-congo\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T12:32:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T09:32:03","slug":"more-than-two-hundred-people-died-in-a-mine-collapse-in-congo","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/news\/more-than-two-hundred-people-died-in-a-mine-collapse-in-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"More than two hundred people died in a mine collapse in Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A large-scale tragedy occurred in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As a result of a collapse at the site of artisanal coltan mining, the number of victims exceeded two hundred people, including children.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The emergency occurred in the middle of the week near the village of Rubaya, located in the province of North Kivu. Underground <a data-id=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/geomekhanika-monitoring\/\" data-type=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/geomekhanika-monitoring\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">mine workings collapsed<\/a>, where local residents extracted minerals by hand. According to local officials, not only workers, but also random people nearby were trapped under the rubble.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The preliminary cause of the disaster is said to be heavy rains that eroded the soil. Rescuers pulled several dozen victims from the rubble, who were seriously injured and were hospitalized.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The area is rich in deposits of coltan, a mineral needed for the production of electronics, including <a data-id=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/metally-v-tvoem-smartfone\/\" data-type=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/metally-v-tvoem-smartfone\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">smartphones<\/a> and laptops. The zone is currently under the control of armed groups, which, according to international organizations, use revenues from mining to finance their activities.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final death toll is still being determined. According to unconfirmed information, it can reach 227 people.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This disaster brings renewed attention to the harsh working conditions and high risks in artisanal mining <a data-id=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/redkozemelnye-metally-novaya-neft-i-pri-chem-tut-grenlandiya\/\" data-type=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/redkozemelnye-metally-novaya-neft-i-pri-chem-tut-grenlandiya\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">region<\/a>. The incident also raises the issue of transparency in global commodity chains and the responsibility of consumer companies for the sources of supplied materials.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Source: Reuters<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Image: Zohra Bensemra<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A large-scale tragedy occurred in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As a result of a collapse at the site of artisanal coltan mining, the number of victims exceeded two hundred people, including children. The emergency occurred in the middle of the week near the village of Rubaya, located in the provinc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":42125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"More than two hundred people died in a mine collapse in Congo","_seopress_titles_desc":"Find out the details of the tragedy at the illegal coltan mine in Congo, where more than 200 people died. Read about the causes of the accident and the situation in the region.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[348,346],"class_list":["post-59450","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","category-dobycha-poleznyh-iskopaemyh","tag-geopoliticheskoe-vliyanie-prirodnyh-resursov","tag-promyshlennaya-bezopasnost"],"acf":[],"pbg_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo.webp",1350,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo-150x100.webp",150,100,true],"medium":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo-300x200.webp",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo-768x512.webp",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo-1024x683.webp",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo.webp",1350,900,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo.webp",1350,900,false],"bricks_large_16x9":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo-1200x675.webp",1200,675,true],"bricks_large":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo-1200x800.webp",1200,800,true],"bricks_large_square":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo-1200x900.webp",1200,900,true],"bricks_medium":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo-600x400.webp",600,400,true],"bricks_medium_square":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/avariya-na-shakhte-koltana-v-rubae-kongo-600x600.webp",600,600,true]},"pbg_author_info":{"display_name":"Yulia Frolova","author_link":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/author\/giulia-nikolaevna\/","author_img":false},"pbg_comment_info":" No Comments","pbg_excerpt":"A large-scale tragedy occurred in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As a result of a collapse at the site of artisanal coltan mining, the number of victims exceeded two hundred people, including children. The emergency occurred in the middle of the week near the village of Rubaya, located in the provinc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/59450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/59450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}