ESCAPE FROM HELL

In March last year, this video of DRC miners being plucked out alive one by one from a collapsed makeshift shaft went viral. Nine men were saved thanks to the frantic digging efforts of a hero colleague. As each one was pulled out, they were greeted with cheers.

But the clip is as relevant now as it was then - as it highlights the dangers miners in the Congo have to face. Many seek higher earnings than exploitative multinationals are willing to pay - exposing themselves to even greater risk as ‘artisanal’ mines.

DRC has an estimated $24 trillion in untapped minerals, yet its people are among the poorest in the world. Millions are internally displaced, countless have been killed, masses are in poverty and swathes of the population are exploited in slave-like conditions. Since the days of the limb-chopping Belgium King Leopold, to the Apples and Teslas of today, instability has been used as a tool for extracting the country's ample resources - and the people of Congo have paid the highest price.