At least 15 people have been killed by a landslide at a clandestine gold mine in Guinea’s north-eastern Siguiri region.
A government spokesman said Overhanging rocks collapsed on Saturday morning, crushing some victims and burying others inside the mine, adding that the exact circumstances and causes of the tragedy would be investigated.
According to the local Red Cross, two women were among the dead and that it was likely more bodies would be found.
Djanko Dansoko was quoted as saying by news site Guinee360 that the site is already mined by machines adding the miners had struck too far in, causing the earth, being very badly suspended, gave under.
There are hundreds of unofficial “artisanal” mines around Siguiri, where gold is laboriously panned by hand and safety standards are low and this particular site is near the village of Tatakourou, about 40km from the city centre of Siguiri.
Seventeen miners were killed in a landslide in Guinea two years ago, and a dozen more nine months later.
In spite of the glaring dangers, the search for gold attracts clandestine miners from Mali, Senegal and other West African countries.
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