CAR Gold Mine Landslide Kills 107 Near Cameroon Border as Tunnel Collapse Probe Opens
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Aug 19
CAR Gold Mine Landslide Kills 107 Near Cameroon Border as Tunnel Collapse Probe Opens
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Aug 19
Summary
107 bodies had been pulled from the rubble by Tuesday after a slope collapsed onto a crowd at the Zamboï gold mining site in western Central African Republic, and rescuers still fear more victims remain buried.
Investigators in Baboua suspect several underground tunnels gave way beneath the artisanal mine, though the exact trigger of the landslide has not been confirmed.
At least three victims were Cameroonian, officials said, with bodies being repatriated and survivors taken for treatment in Baboua, about 50 km from the site.
The disaster struck in a region where artisanal mining is a main livelihood but pits are often left unsealed and heavy rains regularly weaken the soil, making collapses and landslides common.