Authorities have announced that at least 40 people were killed after a tunnel collapsed in a gold mine in Mali.
“It started with a noise. The earth started to shake,” Oumar Sidibe, a local official for gold miners, told reporters.
The tunnel collapsed at a site in the south-western Koulikoro region on Friday but the number of deaths had not been reported until now.
Mr Sidibe said: “There were over 200 gold miners in the field. The search is over now. We’ve found 73 bodies.”
Mining ministry spokesperson Baye Coulibaly informed the press that the preliminary death toll in Mali’s recent mining incident exceeded 40.
The government conveyed heartfelt condolences to the affected families and urged communities near mining sites to prioritise safety guidelines, restricting work to designated gold panning areas.
Widespread mining accidents result from unregulated practices, prompting the ministry’s unsuccessful warnings against unauthorised tunnelling.
A thorough investigation is underway, with a team dispatched to the site on Thursday, highlighting Mali’s significant role as a major global gold exporter.
