By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Authorities on Friday announced that no fewer 14 workers in a gold mining site in Sudan have lost their lives after collapse of a hillside in the site.
The Sudanese Mineral Resources Company said in a short statement that the deadly collapse occurred when one of the hillsides that surround the Jebel Al-Ahmar gold mine, situated near the Egyptian border caved in Thursday afternoon.
The statement says about 20 other workers who sustained varying injuries were transferred to a nearby hospital.
According to a report published Thursday by Sudan’s state-owned news agency SUNA, a search operation was launched to find those trapped under the rubble.
Witnesses cited by SUNA said the workers were searching inside mining wells for gold using heavy machinery which caused the collapse.
A security source cited by the state agency said workers were thought to be trapped beneath the mine’s groundwater.
The dead have been transferred to the nearby town of Wadi Halfa and have since been buried, the state company said.
Sudan is a major gold producer with various mines scattered across the country. Collapses are common as safety standards and maintenance are poor.
In 2021, 31 people were killed after a defunct gold mine collapsed in West Kordofan province.
