The landslide took place in Kashebere, in North Kivu province, where the Congolese state is largely absent due to the advance of the Rwanda-backed M23 militia.

Kashbere is around 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Goma, the provincial capital, which fell to a lightning M23 offensive at the beginning of 2025.

"Eighteen bodies have been found and 11 are still unfindable," Emile Kubuya, a local administrator who has fled to a government-held part of North Kivu, told AFP by phone.

"In total, 34 people were swallowed up in the village, but we managed to recover 22 bodies. Others are in the mud, at a great depth," said Ombeni Kishuba, a resident of Kashebere also contacted by phone.

According to a source who works in healthcare, "eight bodies were found in the same house, apparently members of the same family and their visitors".

"We have received five injured people at the health centre so far," the source said, adding that the rocks and the mud had made the search for survivors difficult.

The DRC's mountainous east, which frequently sees heavy rains, is no stranger to deadly landslides.