At least 21 killed, several missing in eastern DR Congo landslide

The bodies of eight women and 13 children were discovered Sunday after the landslide hit a river in Bolowa town.

A day after a landslide in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has left at least 21 people dead and several others missing.

The bodies of eight women and 13 children were discovered after the landslide hit a river in Bolowa town on Sunday as people were washing clothes and cleaning utensils, said Voltaire Batundi, a civil society leader in the wider Masisi- area.

One person survived and was taken to a health center, he added.

“We think there may be other bodies in the mud,” he told Reuters news agency by telephone.

Searches continued on Monday, said a spokesman for the governor of North Kivu province, which includes Masisi.

Fabrice Muphirwa Kubuya, head of the Osso-Banyungu civic group, said that “the landslide occurred around noon in Bulwa village”, bringing the preliminary death toll to 30, as quoted by Anadolu Agency.

He added that the mudslide may have been triggered by days of heavy rainfall.