By Khalid Abdelaziz
Sept 16 (Reuters) – At least 60 people were killed in a gold mine collapse in Sudan’s West Kordofan state on Sunday, three local sources told Reuters, while a local rights group said some miners could still be alive underground and appealed for urgent rescue efforts.
The Kordofan Observatory monitoring group said on Wednesday that more than 70 artisanal miners were dead or missing after a series of adjoining mining shafts collapsed at the al-Zara mine in the Fouja area, northwest of al-Nuhud.
Citing eyewitness accounts, the group said a survivor emerged on Tuesday and reported that others were still alive underground. It said no specialised rescue teams had intervened and fragile, sandy ground was hampering residents’ attempts to rescue miners and recover bodies using basic tools.
The three local sources, speaking to Reuters on Wednesday, attributed the high death toll at the remote site to a lack of safety procedures and rescue equipment.
Sudan is one of Africa’s largest gold producers, but the vast majority of its gold is produced through dangerous artisanal mining and later smuggled out of the country.
Gold mining is a key source of revenue for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who control the state.
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Tala Ramadan and Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Louise Heavens and Hugh Lawson)
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