The death toll from the collapse of an artisanal gold mine in western Central African Republic rose above 100 on Wednesday, with rescuers still searching for survivors a day after the disaster.
The collapse occurred Tuesday afternoon at the Zamboye mining site, near the town of Baboua and close to the border with Cameroon. A Red Cross volunteer involved in relief efforts told reporters that more than 100 bodies had been recovered. A senior official at a local mining association gave a similar toll, which was corroborated by other local sources.
Authorities said the death toll is likely to climb further, with several people still missing or believed trapped beneath rubble. A member of the local youth council said hopes of finding additional survivors were fading.
The Baboua public prosecutor’s office said the disaster was caused by the collapse of several underground tunnels where miners were working, and announced a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Video circulating on social media showed a section of ground giving way at the sprawling open-pit site, where hundreds of artisanal miners typically work, burying people beneath it. A miner at the scene described the collapse as catastrophic, saying the ground gave way suddenly.
At least four of the victims were Cameroonian nationals, according to local media reports. Authorities in Cameroon said they were coordinating with Central African Republic officials and were prepared to receive and treat any injured survivors who crossed the border.
Central African Republic’s government expressed condolences to victims’ families. The country, one of the world’s poorest despite significant mineral wealth, has experienced repeated fatal accidents at unregulated artisanal mining sites. A similar collapse killed several dozen people at a mine near the Cameroon border in June, and a landslide in March killed seven people at another site.
Small-scale, largely unregulated gold mining employs a significant share of the population in Central African Republic and remains a persistent source of fatal accidents due to unsafe digging practices and inadequate oversight.
