KHARTOUM: At least 60 small-scale miners have been killed after a gold mine collapsed in southern Sudan, while several others are feared trapped under the rubble, local miners said.
The shafts at the Al-Zarqa gold mine near the western Kordofan town of Al-Nuhud began collapsing suddenly on Tuesday, according to miners who spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
By Wednesday morning, rescuers had recovered at least 60 bodies from the rubble. However, workers feared more miners remained trapped underground.
Survivor Khair Al-Sayed Jabara said miners worked through the night using basic and traditional equipment to search for those buried in the collapse.
He said rescuers were trying to reach people trapped beneath the debris and determine whether any survivors remained, but heavy machinery was needed to remove the rocks and soil.
Another miner, Al-Amin Suleiman, said the mine’s shafts were located close to one another, meaning the collapse of one shaft affected others nearby.
He said 60 bodies had been recovered, while some miners remained underground and their chances of survival appeared slim.
War Drives Workers Into Dangerous Mining
Sudan’s economy has been severely disrupted by a war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that began in April 2023.
The conflict has deprived millions of people of livelihoods, pushing more workers toward gold mining despite the dangerous conditions at many informal mining sites.
Western Kordofan, where the accident occurred, is controlled by the RSF, making large-scale rescue operations more difficult.
Sudan is one of Africa’s major gold producers. The country produced about 70 tonnes of gold last year, its highest output in five years.
