Bamako: At least 48 people were killed in the collapse of a gold mine illegally operated in western Mali on Saturday, local authorities and sources said AFP.
Mali is one of the main gold producers in Africa, and mining sites are regularly the scene of landslides and fatal accidents.
The authorities have struggled to control the unregulated mining of the precious metal of the country, which is among the poorest in the world.
“The toll at 1800 today is 48 dead after collapse,” said a police source.
“Some of the victims fell into the water. Among them there was a woman with her baby on her back.”
A local official confirmed the cave, while the Kenieba Gold Miners Association also put the number of deaths in 48. The search for victims was ongoing, said the head of an environmental organization. AFP.
Saturday's accident took place in an abandoned place previously operated by a Chinese company, Fuentes said. AFP.
In January, a landslide in a gold mine in southern Mali killed at least 10 people and left many other missing, most of them women.
A little over a year ago, a tunnel collapsed in a gold mining site in the same region as the landslide of Saturday, killing more than 70 people.
