(IDEX Online) - At least FORTY diamond miners are feared dead after a mine collapsed in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the country's minister of the interior.The artisanal workers were in underground shafts in Samba, near the city of Tshikapa, in the southwestern region of Kasai.Initial reports after the mine collapse on Tuesday (7 June) indicate there were six fatalities. The official Chinese news agency Xinhua has since updated the death toll to "at least 40". It quotes government official Alain Tshisungu Ntumba as saying on Thursday (9 June): "I confirm that there was a collapse in Samba in the mining square of a (local) chief. At least 40 people were working there when the ground collapsed. We have been able to pull out, so far, only six bodies."Landslides and mine collapses are a common hazard for artisanal miners, working with negligible protection or safety checks in areas of unstable soil. But the scale of this disaster is exceptional.More than 40 individual wells - between 15m and 18m deep - were affected in the collapse, according to Xinhua. The Congolese authorities have suspended mining activities at the site, which is owned by a local chief.Pic: Twitter/MediaCongo.net