Families members and survivors mourn the victims of last week’s Rubaya coltan mine collapse. Kinshasa accuses M23 of illegally exploiting eastern Congo’s natural resources.
Mourners gathered quietly in the courtyard of a modest home in Goma, eastern Congo on Monday.
Family members sat shoulder to shoulder, some staring at their phones, others clutching photographs of Bosco Nguvumali Kalabosh.
Kalabosh was among the victims of last week’s deadly collapse at the Rubaya coltan mine, where heavy rains triggered a landslide that crushed several hand-dug tunnels.
At least 200 miners are believed to have died in one of the deadliest mining disasters the region has seen in years.
Kalabosh’s younger brother, Timothée Nzanga, described the desperate search that followed the collapse.
“They extracted the people closest and several were found lifeless and placed aside,” he said. They didn’t find his brother until the next day. “It took considerable force to try to free (his body). During these searches they also discovered other bodies, those of unknown people, which they simply placed nearby.”
Nzanga said his loss leaves an uncertain future behind. “After his passing, only God knows what will become of his family,” he said.
The collapse happened at the Rubaya mines, about 40 kilometres west of Goma, after days of heavy rain.
The site is controlled by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, which seized the area in 2024 and now oversees one of Congo’s most important sources of coltan, a mineral essential for mobile phones, computers and military technology.
Artisanal miners here dig long, narrow tunnels by hand, often without proper supports or escape routes. One collapse can trigger others, trapping hundreds at once.
Survivor Tumaini Munguiko recalls the moment the hillside gave way.
“We were in the mine when it started to rain,” he says. “We saw the hill collapse on the miners. Some came out safe and sound, and others died.”
M23 authorities halted artisanal mining on the site after the collapse, and the search for survivors continues.
Congo’s government in a statement on social media expressed solidarity with the victims’ families and accused the rebels of illegally and unsafely exploiting the region’s natural resources.
