Dramatic footage shows man using bare hands to rescue trapped gold miners in Congo

A video showing nine Congolese miners escape from the collapsed gold mine has been shared on social media Video credit: Syed Shayaan Bakht/ Facebook

A man used his bare hands to rescue Congolese gold miners after heavy rain caused the mine they were working in to collapse.

In footage shared on social media, onlookers are heard crying out in joy after nine people emerged from the mine, located in the South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which collapsed following heavy rain.

The video shows a man precariously perched on the side of a steep slope of rubble, helping miners out of the mine with a large group of onlookers watching him and nervously cheering him on.

As each of the men escape the hole one by one, the onlookers break out of silence and then shout out in delight as tragedy is narrowly averted.

All nine trapped miners are understood to have been rescued and survived the collapse.

"We quickly mobilised people to clear the rubble that was blocking the entrance. It was on the morning of this Saturday... that they managed to save these nine souls," local civil society representative Crispin Kayuka told Reuters.

A lack of safety procedures and unregulated mining methods have been blamed for tunnel collapses at Congolese mines previously, with many mining accidents having occurred in the Central African country over recent years.

In 2020, for example, more than 50 people were killed after landslides caused the collapse of three artisanal gold mines near the city of Kamituga in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province.

Other deadly collapses occurred that year in Maniema and in Katanga, killing at least 18 people.

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