No fewer than 50 people are feared killed when a gold mine collapsed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said Saturday.

The accident in the makeshift mine occurred on Friday in Kamituga, in South Kivu province, as a result of subsidence caused by torrential rains.

Provincial Governor Theo Ngwabidje Kasi deplored “the tragic deaths of 50 people, most of them young”, while Kamituga mayor Alexandre Bundya said “we are not yet sure of the exact number” of victims.