Gold mine collapse kills at least 70 people in Sudan’s West Kordofan

At least 70 people have been killed after a gold mine collapsed in Sudan’s West Kordofan state.

Dozens of artisanal miners were killed and a number of them were trapped after a series of adjoining mining shafts collapsed at al-Zaraa mine, near al-Nuhud town, on Tuesday, the Kordofan Observatory monitoring group said on Wednesday.

The group added that no specialised rescue teams had joined the rescue effort and residents with rudimentary tools were struggling to pull survivors out in loose and sandy soil.

Khair al-Sayyed Jabara, who survived the incident, told the AFP news agency on Wednesday that he and fellow miners had dug throughout the night using their tools to reach survivors, adding that heavy equipment was needed.

“We don’t know how many more are still inside,” he said.

Survivors question absence of safety procedures

Another miner, Amin Suleiman, said the shafts were packed so closely that each one pulled down those beside it when it collapsed.

Local sources told the Reuters news agency that the high death toll was due to ⁠a lack of safety procedures and rescue equipment.

Sudan Doctors Network, a Khartoum-based medical group, said search efforts were ongoing and the casualty figure could rise, adding that the site was missing basic safeguards for workers.

The group condemned the “negligence” it said put miners’ lives at serious risk.

West Kordofan is held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting Sudan’s army since April 2023. Smuggled gold has been a key source of revenue for the group.

“Mining activities in areas under RSF control, in the absence of safety standards and adequate protection and rescue equipment, turn mining into a direct threat to the lives of civilians,” it said in a statement.

It called for the search to continue and for medical and logistical help to be provided, and urged those in control of the area to end unregulated mining.

Sudan ranks among Africa’s leading gold producers, and most of its yellow metal comes from dangerous, informal mining at disused or unofficial sites.