The bridge collapsed on Saturday in a flooded part of the mine in Lualaba province, according to Roy Kaumba Mayonde, regional representative for Lualaba.
He claims that 32 bodies have been recovered and that the search is still ongoing.
Around 200,000 people are estimated to work in the illegal mining industry related to cobalt deposits in Congo-Kinshasa. Circumstances, working conditions and safety measures are often completely substandard.
Illegal miners entered the mine's quarry despite a formal ban on entering the area due to heavy rains and the risk of landslides, Mayonde said.
When many workers made their way across the bridge in the rain-soaked ground, it collapsed.
The situation in the current mining area has also been worsened by an ongoing dispute between the mine's official owners, who are said to be under Chinese influence, a cooperative that is responsible for the mining, and the many miners who are working in the mine without a contract.
Congo-Kinshasa extracts around 70 percent of the world's cobalt, an element that is an important component in, among other things, car batteries, computers and mobile phones.
