The illegal gold miners died in a remote area of the north-eastern Orientale Province.

Reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday August 16 said at least 60 illegal gold miners died last Monday after a mine shaft collapsed in the north-eastern Orientale Province. The BBC quoted local media as saying the accident took place at Pangoy, 120 kilometres from the town of Mambasa.

A local administrator in the area, Faustin Drakana Kananga, told the Associated Press yesterday that it took rescue crews four days to get to the remote mine located in an area controlled by a militia in a dense jungle. It was not however clear if the rescue crews succeeded in saving any lives.

Another official told UN-sponsored Radio Okapi late on Wednesday August 15 that the sides of the mine collapsed, burying all the miners as they rushed to be the first in the bottom of the pit, the Agence France Presse, AFP news agency said. The local government chief confirmed the number of dead, adding that the mine had been abandoned after clashes between the regular army and a militia headed by Paul Sadala, alias Morgan. The miners were about 100 metres underground when the accident happened, local media said.

The AngloGold Ashanti and Randgold mining companies are said to operate in the region, known to be rich in tin and gold. Hundreds of thousands of people in eastern Congo make a living in artisanal mines where safety precautions are almost non-existent and accidents common.

Eastern DRC is rich in minerals such as coltan, cobalt, copper, uranium, tin, cassiterite, gold, and diamonds. Illegal mining of the country's mineral resources is widely seen as helping to fuel ethnic and regional conflicts, leading to the pillage and rape of local people. The provinces of South Kivu, North Kivu and Ituri have suffered from various forms of prolonged armed violence since the first military incursions from Uganda and Rwanda in 1996