More than 70 people have been killed after a tunnel collapsed at a Malian gold mining site last week, local sources said on January 24, the latest disaster in a region prone to mining accidents.
Mali, which is among the world’s poorest countries, is one of Africa’s leading gold producers.
Gold mining sites are regularly the scene of deadly landslides and authorities struggle to control artisanal mining of the precious metal.
“It started with a noise. The earth started to shake,” Oumar Sidibe, an official for gold miners in the southwestern town of Kangaba, said of the incident on Friday.
“There were over 200 gold miners in the field. The search is over now. We’ve found 73 bodies,” he said.
Govt. withholds figures
Mali’s Ministry of Mines in a statement on Tuesday had announced the death of several miners but did not give precise figures.
The government offered its “deepest condolences to the grieving families and the Malian people”.
