Storms in eastern DR Congo killed at least four people, with another 20 others missing, after an overflowing river swept away a building, officials said.

The accident happened in the rural and mining territory of Mwenga, where local people had sheltered under a hangar serving as a makeshift restaurant on the banks of the river.

The rain triggered a landslide, causing the building to collapse, Alexandre Ngandu, the deputy mayor of Kamituga, a major town in the eastern South Kivu region, told AFP news agency.

"The river carried everything away... The toll is 20 missing and four bodies recovered."

Severe storms that have resulted in casualties and damage have been witnessed in the country this year.

In May some 400 people were killed and 5,000 went missing in a mudslide that swept two villages into Lake Kivu in the eastern Kalehe region, according to the UN.

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