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

What the report says

At least 70 people were killed after a gold mine collapsed in Sudan’s West Kordofan state, according to Al Jazeera, with the incident reported at the al-Zaraa mine near al-Nuhud town on Tuesday. The collapse involved a series of adjoining shafts, and dozens of artisanal miners were said to have been trapped as rescuers searched for survivors.

A monitoring group, the Kordofan Observatory, said on Wednesday that no specialized rescue teams had reached the site and that residents were using basic tools to try to dig people out of loose, sandy ground. Survivors quoted by AFP described working through the night and said heavier equipment was needed. Another miner said the closely packed shafts appeared to have pulled one another down in the collapse.

Local sources cited by Reuters said the high death toll reflected poor safety procedures and a lack of rescue gear. The Sudan Doctors Network, a Khartoum-based medical group, said the search was still under way and warned the number of casualties could rise. It also described the site as lacking basic safeguards for workers.

The disaster comes against the backdrop of Sudan’s wider conflict and the importance of gold mining in the country’s economy. Al Jazeera noted that West Kordofan is controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, and that unregulated artisanal mining remains common in Sudan, where informal operations often take place at unsafe or abandoned sites.