Sudan gold mine collapse kills at least 67 in RSF-held West Kordofan
At least 67 people have been killed in a gold mine collapse in a remote part of Sudan, according to survivors and a medical group, in the latest tragedy in a country devastated by war. Survivors said the collapse took place at the al-Zara gold mine in Nuhud in West Kordofan province, an area controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, which has been fighting the Sudanese military for more than three years.
The Sudan Doctors Network, a medical group tracking the war in Sudan, said the toll could rise as rescuers continued to search for people trapped under the rubble. It said the mine, an informal site employing unregulated workers, lacked basic safety and protective measures. A local administration official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that 82 bodies had been recovered and that dozens more people remained missing.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the collapse began on Sunday in one of the mine shafts and spread to other interconnected shafts. He said rescue efforts were being hampered because only one privately owned forklift was available. Earlier, two survivors reached by phone and the physicians network said the tragedy took place on Tuesday evening.
The Kordofan Observatory monitoring group said at least 70 miners were killed or missing at the site, which stretches over 1 kilometre across a wide area of fragile, sandy soil. It described the miners as informal and unregulated workers. One survivor, Khairal-Sayed Gabara, said the collapse was "massive" and that machinery needed to remove the collapsed soil and rubble was not available. "We do not have the machinery to lift dirt and stones and search for survivors at depths of more than 30 metres," he said. "There were dozens of people working in the mine." Another survivor, Al-Amin Suliman, said 60 bodies had been recovered as of Wednesday morning. "There are still people stuck inside," he said.
Deadly mine collapses are not uncommon in Sudan, despite the country being a major gold producer and safety standards not being widely applied. A collapse in 2023 killed 14 miners, while one in 2021 claimed 38 lives. The al-Zara mine is one of thousands of small-scale and informal mines across Sudan, which has been engulfed in a war that has at times pushed parts of the country into famine. According to experts commissioned by the United Nations, large quantities of gold have been smuggled out of Sudan to finance the RSF, which controls gold-producing areas in Darfur and Kordofan. Sudan descended into full-scale war in April 2023 when fighting broke out between the RSF and the Sudanese military. The conflict has killed at least 59,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data group, though aid organisations say the true figure could be far higher. The mine collapse has again highlighted the dangers faced by informal workers in a war-hit country where rescue efforts remain under strain.
