9 Congolese miners became trapped Saturday in a collapsed gold mine in the South-Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
They were a crew of 11 so only 2 were not trapped and they had one shovel. They mud and rocks kept coming down the hill.
Viral video of the harrowing rescue shows one worker using a shovel to dig a hole, then another, perched on the steep slope, feverishly digs with his bare hands as the nine miners emerge one by one from the hole. As the rescuer keeps digging out the escape hole, he’s having to deal with the loose dirt filling the hole back in and also having to keep an eye out for debris and the occasional large boulder tumbling down the chute from above.
Mining accidents are common at small unregulated sites like this one in the central African country. Many times, the workers aren’t so lucky, but this time their determined coworker made sure they all were able to go home that evening.