Death toll hits 13 in landslides in DR Congo

GOMA: Seven people died in a landslide in eastern DR Congo on Monday, bringing the death toll to 13 over the past three days, as torrential rain lashes the region, local officials said.

Already on Friday, six people had been killed in Mahanga in the province of North Kivu, according to a local NGO for indigenous peoples.

Then on Monday, seven more people were killed in a second landslide in the same area, the administrator for the Masisi territory, Cosmas Tangakolo, told AFP.

Among the material damage, six bridges, eight schools and 90 homes were swept away in the heavy rain, NGO workers said.

The mountainous and densely-wooded region in the east of DR Congo is frequently hit by killer floods.