According to local accounts and a Red Cross volunteer, an artisanal gold mine in the western Central African Republic (CAR) near the Cameroonian border collapsed, killing over 100 people. According to local media, the cave-in happened on Tuesday in the village of Zamboye, which is located in eastern Cameroon a few kilometers from Garoua-Boulai and roughly 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the town of Baboua in Central Africa.
More than 100 bodies have been discovered from the collapse, according to Gervais Ganagoroh, a Red Cross volunteer working on the relief effort, who told the Associated Press news agency on Wednesday. More than 100 people had died as a result of the cave-in, according to a senior official of a local mining association, which other local sources verified to the agency AFP.
According to local official Bertrand Be Yangue, a number of persons are still unaccounted for or trapped beneath the debris, and the death toll is predicted to increase. “It would be a miracle to find them alive,” Yangue remarked. “Seeing young men and women die after coming to the mines to save their families from despair is heartbreaking and saddening.” The Central African Republic’s Nana-Mambere prefecture deputy mayor, Souleymane Bi, stated: “It is terrible. Additionally, we are requesting assistance from organizations and all kindhearted individuals. According to a statement from the Baboua public prosecutor, “the collapse of several underground tunnels in which miners were operating” is thought to have caused the landslide, and a court investigation has been launched.
Local Baboua official Laurent Ngon Baba told AFP earlier on Wednesday, “At this stage, it’s difficult for us to establish a formal toll.”
Authorities are “working hard to provide relief and assistance” to those impacted, according to government spokeswoman Evariste Ngamana, who also expressed compassion for the victims’ families.
On public CRTV radio, Gregoire Mvongo, the governor of the eastern region of Cameroon, stated that they were “working in close collaboration with our Central African colleagues to deal with the aftermath of this tragedy.”
In the CAR, where thousands of people engage in small-scale extractive mining outside of official regulation, artisanal mine disasters are frequent. Because miners usually lack adequate protection and accidents frequently result in fatalities, the labor is dangerous.
At the Be-Mbari gold mining facility, which is located near the Cameroon border, a collapse in June claimed the lives of numerous workers.
Seven persons perished in a landslide at a mine in the western CAR town of Ngourroum in mid-March.
In February, another twenty people were slain in the northeastern town of Gordi.
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