Published On 17/11/2025
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Last update: 20:12 (Mecca time)
A deadly landslide – which occurred in the Kalando mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 49 people and transporting 20 others to hospital in critical conditions – sparked widespread interaction on social media platforms.
Rescue teams are continuing their operations to search for potential survivors under the rubble of the mine, which is located 40 kilometers from the capital of Lualaba province, and is considered one of the vital mines specialized in copper and cobalt mining.
This mine is run by a legal company and has formal workers, but thousands of informal miners infiltrate it in search of a living.
The government in Lualaba state warned of heavy rains falling on the area, and sent military forces to secure the site and prevent irregular workers from entering the mine.
The irregular workers entered the mine with their excavators despite explicit government warnings, and the disaster occurred.
In a related context, the National Agency for Artisanal Mining – concerned with the affairs of informal workers – revealed that the soldiers at the site opened fire on the workers and they rushed on the bridge, causing it to collapse.
For his part, the provincial Minister of Interior reported that illegal diggers stormed the mine and caused the collapse of a primitive bridge, despite the official ban on access to the site.
Regarding the country’s mining sector, there are more than 3,000 officially licensed mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
More than 500 illegal foreign companies operate hundreds of unlicensed mines, employing thousands of workers in dangerous conditions.
Unlicensed mining employs two million people in extremely dangerous conditions, as they lack basic protective equipment and work in mines that threaten to collapse at any moment. This reality reflects the absence of effective government oversight and the weak application of occupational safety standards.
On the other hand, the Democratic Republic of the Congo ranks second in the world in copper production, and most of the production comes from the copper belt region in the southeast, where copper is mixed with cobalt, and these minerals are considered vital in the manufacture of electric car batteries and modern electronic devices.
Lack of safety standards
In the context of reactions on social media platforms, the episode (11/17/2025) of the “Shabakat” program highlighted the varying opinions of activists and followers between those who focus on the responsibility of foreign companies in exploiting workers, and those who highlight the absence of safety standards and government oversight, while most commentators agreed on the extent of the human tragedy and the necessity of improving the deadly working conditions in this vital sector.
Tweeter Sami Al-Muhaimeed expressed his deep concern about the scale and frequency of the disaster, tweeting:
A disaster of this magnitude reveals the fragility of safety procedures in African mines, and the continued fall of this number of victims means that the work environment there is still very far from globally accepted standards. The problem is not the collapse itself as much as it is the lack of oversight and preparedness, and this is what makes every accident turn into a tragedy.
While activist Farid focused on the responsibility of large corporations towards poor workers, and wrote:
Unfortunately, poor workers pay the price. Large companies shirk their responsibilities with irregular labor contracts with low wages.
For his part, tweeter Ibrahim Al-Ammar highlighted the multiple occupational risks in this sector, and tweeted:
Working in mines is still one of the most dangerous professions due to such sudden collapses, as well as toxic gases, poor ventilation, heavy machinery, constant darkness, and difficulty reaching workers in the event of accidents.
The account holder, Ismail, also referred to the huge mineral wealth that this country possesses, and wrote:
The Congo is considered one of the largest gold exporting countries, and several countries entered into gold extraction and export, and before a while (also) they discovered that the Congo has other important minerals, such as diamonds.