GOMA, Congo, Feb 3, (AP): After a landslide last week killed at least 200 people in eastern Congo at a rebel-controlled coltan mine, families of the deceased and survivors are mourning their lost loved ones, and some survivors prepared to head back to the reopened mines. On Wednesday, following heavy rains in eastern Congo, a network of hand-dug tunnels at the Rubaya mining complex collapsed, killing at least 200 artisanal miners and trapping an unknown number who remain missing.

The mine, located around 25 miles (40 kilometers) to the west of the regional capital of Goma, has been under the control of Rwandan-backed M23 rebels since early 2024 and employs thousands of miners who work largely by hand. In the Mugunga neighborhood in Goma, the family of Bosco Nguvumali Kalabosh, 39, mourned his death Monday.

Since last Thursday, relatives, neighbors and loved ones have been gathering at the family home, sitting around a photograph of him placed up against a wall. "He was supposed to return to Goma on Thursday,” said his older brother, Thimothée Kalabosh Nzanga. Kalabosh had been a miner for more than 10 years. He owned his own mines on the site and came from a family where artisanal mining - mining for minerals using basic hand tools - had been passed down from generation to generation.

He leaves behind a widow and four children, the eldest of whom is 5 years old. For survivors trickling back into town, the pressure to return to the mines is clear - despite the constant danger. Tumaini Munguiko, a survivor of the collapse, came to offer his condolences to Kalabosh’s family. "Seeing our peers die is very painful.

But despite the pain, we are forced to return to the mines to survive,” he said. Munguiko calmly explained that he had already experienced several similar disasters. "It has almost become normal. We accept it because it is our means of survival. I was saved this time, but I lost five friends and my older brother.” According to him, landslides are common in Rubaya, especially during the rainy season.

"When it rains, the clay soils become unstable. Some take shelter, others perish, others survive, and others watch from afar,” he said. Miners dig long tunnels, often parallel to one another, with limited support and no safe evacuation route in case of a collapse. A former miner at the site told The Associated Press that there have been repeated landslides because the tunnels are dug by hand, poorly constructed and not maintained.