Nine Colleagues Buried in Congo Mine... Rescued by Digging Out Soil with Hands

Digging with Shovels and Equipment, Then Excavating Barehanded
All 9 Rescued in 2 Minutes Thanks to Swift Response

Nine miners who were trapped in a mine in Congo have all been rescued.

According to Reuters and other sources on the 27th (local time), nine miners were buried when a mine collapsed on the 25th due to heavy rain in South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, but all were rescued.

Videos posted on social media show people outside the mine digging at the entrance with shovels and then using their bare hands to remove soil. As a result, a hole was made and one miner managed to escape.

[Photo by Twitter capture]

However, soil and rocks continued to pour down from the hill, blocking the entrance again, and people once again dug the hole with their bare hands.

After that, the miners began to escape one after another.

People watching nearby cheered and clapped each time a miner successfully escaped one by one.

In the end, all nine miners escaped within about two minutes. It was reported that there were no injuries.

Crispin Kayuka, a representative of the local civil society, told Reuters, "We quickly mobilized people to remove the debris blocking the entrance."

Meanwhile, in Congo, accidents where tunnels collapse and miners are buried frequently occur due to insufficient safety equipment and measures in mines. In 2020, 50 miners died in a burial accident, and earlier this month, two miners died in an accident at an illegal mine.

In this recent burial accident, if time had been delayed, the chances of rescuing the miners would not have been high, but thanks to the quick response before the mine entrance was completely blocked, all were able to be rescued.