Some of the biggest names in consumer technology have been accused of being complicit in the deaths of children from the Democratic Republic of Congo who were mining a metal integral to their devices.

Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, Dell and Google‘s parent company Alphabet have been identified in a lawsuit as part of a system of forced labour that 14 families claim led to the death or serious injury of their children.

The children cited in the landmark lawsuit had been put to work to mine cobalt – a metal vital to the production of technologies including smartphones and computers.

Filed on Sunday by International Rights Advocates, the case marked the first time the tech industry jointly has faced legal action over the source of its cobalt.

Images in the court documents, filed in US District Court in Washington DC, showed children with disfigured or missing limbs.

Six of the 14 children in the case were killed in tunnel collapses, and the others suffered life-altering injuries, including paralysis, it said.

In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Show all 22 1 /22 In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Locals and family members gather at Cricket Mine outside Kadoma more than 200 km west of the capital Harare, Zimbabwe, 14 February 2019 where more than 40 artisanal miners died on 12 February 2019. The miners died when the shafts in which they working in were flooded by raining water. Efforts are being made to pump out the water so that the bodies can be retrieved. EPA/AARON UFUMELI In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Relatives of trapped miners look on, near a mineshaft where some tens of artisanal gold miners are feared dead after rains flooded the mines while they were underground on the outskirts of Kadoma town about 200 kilometres west of Harare, Zimbabwe, Thursday, Feb, 14, 2019. Hopes of rescuing the trapped miners are fading due to lack of necessary equipment after they were reported missing Wednesday. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners People gather around one of the shafts at Cricket Mine outside Kadoma more than 200 km west of the capital Harare, Zimbabwe, 14 February 2019 where more than 40 artisanal miners died on 12 February 2019.The miners died when the shafts in which they working in were flooded by raining water.Efforts are being made to pump out the water so that the bodies can be retrieved. EPA/AARON UFUMELI In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Wives of trapped miners gather together near the mine where some tens of artisanal gold miners are feared dead after rains flooded the mines while they were underground on the outskirts of Kadoma town about 200 kilometres west of Harare, Zimbabwe, Thursday, Feb, 14, 2019. Hopes of rescuing the trapped miners are fading due to lack of necessary equipment after they were reported missing Wednesday. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners epa07370031 Locals cross a pond at Cricket Mine, outside Kadoma, more than 200 km west of the capital Harare, Zimbabwe, 14 February 2019, where more than 40 artisanal miners died on 12 February 2019.The miners died when the shafts in which they working in were flooded by raining water.Efforts are being made to pump out the water so that the bodies can be retrieved. EPA/AARON UFUMELI In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Fellow artisinal miners look down a pit during a mine search and rescue operation at Cricket Mine in Kadoma, Mashonaland West Province where more than 23 artisinal miners are trapped underground and feared dead on February 15, 2018. (Jekesai NJIKIZANA / AFP)JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/AFP/Getty Images) In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners A miner gets ready to decend into a mining pit during a mine search and rescue operation at Cricket Mine in Kadoma, Mashonaland West Province where more than 23 artisanal miners are trapped underground and feared dead on February 15, 2018. Jekesai NJIKIZANA / AFP)JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners TOPSHOT - A miner gets ready to decend into a mining pit during a mine search and rescue operation at Cricket Mine in Kadoma, Mashonaland West Province where more than 23 artisinal miners are trapped underground and feared dead on February 15, 2018. Jekesai NJIKIZANA / AFP)JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners An artisanal miner looks on as retrieval efforts proceed for trapped illegal gold miners in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, February 15, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Miners work to reach about 40 artisanal gold miners who are feared dead after rains flooded the mines while they were underground on the outskirts of Kadoma town about 200 kilometres west of Harare, Zimbabwe, Friday, Feb, 15, 2019. Artisanal miners continued to lead efforts to rescue their colleagues using heavy duty pumps and machinery to reach where the miners are thought to be. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Established miners arrive with equipment to help rescue about 40 artisanal gold miners who are feared dead after rains flooded the mines while they were underground on the outskirts of Kadoma town about 200 kilometres west of Harare, Zimbabwe, Friday, Feb, 15, 2019. Artisanal miners continued to lead efforts to rescue their colleagues using heavy duty pumps and machinery to reach where the miners are thought to be. AP In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Established miners fix broken equipment used to help rescue dozens of artisanal miners, who are feared dead after rains flooded the mines while they were underground, on the outskirts of Kadoma town about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Harare, Zimbabwe, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. AP In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Families react after hearing eight artisanal miners survived after rains flooded mines on the outskirts of Kadoma, west of Harare, Zimbabwe, Saturday, Feb, 16, 2019. About 40 people were trapped underground, said a police spokesman. AP In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Families react after hearing eight artisanal miners survived after rains flooded mines on the outskirts of Kadoma, west of Harare, Zimbabwe, Saturday, Feb, 16, 2019. About 40 people were trapped underground, said a police spokesman. AP In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Families react after hearing eight artisanal miners survived after rains flooded mines on the outskirts of Kadoma, west of Harare, Zimbabwe, Saturday, Feb, 16, 2019. About 40 people were trapped underground, said a police spokesman. AP In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners A rescued artisanal miner is carried from a pit as retrieval efforts proceed for trapped illegal gold miners in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, February 16, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Artisanal miner Thnkmore Mandimutsa sits in a tent after being rescued as retrieval efforts proceed for trapped illegal gold miners in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, February 16, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners Artisanal miners Thnkmore Mandimutsa and Simon Mushonga sit in a tent after being rescued as retrieval efforts proceed for trapped illegal gold miners in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, February 16, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners A rescued artisinal miner is carried from a pit as retrieval efforts proceed for trapped illegal gold miners in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners A rescued artisanal miner is carried from a pit as retrieval efforts proceed for trapped illegal gold miners in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, February 16, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners REFILE - CORRECTING TYPO A rescued artisanal miner is carried from a pit as retrieval efforts proceed for trapped illegal gold miners in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, February 16, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo In pictures: Zimbabwean gold miners REFILE - CORRECTING TYPO A rescued artisanal miner is carried from a pit as retrieval efforts proceed for trapped illegal gold miners in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, February 16, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

“These companies – the richest companies in the world, these fancy gadget-making companies – have allowed children to be maimed and killed to get their cheap cobalt,” said lawyer Terrence Collingsworth, who is representing the families.

Cobalt is essential in making rechargeable lithium batteries used in millions of products sold by the tech industry.

More than half of the world’s cobalt is produced in Congo.

Global demand for the metal is expected to increase at between 7 and 13 per cent annually over the next decade, according to a 2018 study by the European Commission.

In response to a request for comment, Dell said in an email that it has “never knowingly sourced operations” using child labour and has launched an investigation into the allegations.

Tesla, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Glencore did not immediately respond to questions from The Independent regarding the allegations.

The lawsuit said the children, some as young as six, were forced by their families’ extreme poverty to leave school and work in cobalt mines owned by the British mining company Glencore. Glencore has previously been accused of using child labour.

Some children were paid as little as $1.50 (£1.13) per day, working six days a week, it said.

“Starve or go risk your life to try to eat. Those are the choices for these people,” said Mr Collingsworth.

The legal complaint argued that the companies all have the ability to overhaul their cobalt supply chains to ensure safer conditions.

“I’ve never encountered or documented a more severe asymmetry in the allocation of income between the top of the supply chain and the bottom,” said Siddharth Kara, a researcher on modern slavery who is an expert witness in the case.

“It’s that disconnect that makes this perhaps the worst injustice of slavery and child exploitation that I’ve seen in my two decades research,” Mr Kara said.

More than 40 million people have been estimated to be captive in modern slavery, which includes forced labour and forced marriage, according to Walk Free and the International Labour Organisation.