Sudan gold mine collapse kills at least 82

A gold mine collapse in southern Sudan killed at least 82 people and injured dozens more, a local administrator in West Kordofan said Wednesday, with an unknown number still trapped under sand and rubble.

Two survivors said an all-night rescue effort began Tuesday at the Al-Zaraa mine in West Kordofan state and had retrieved 60 bodies by dawn. The local administrator said another 22 bodies were found Wednesday and that 50 people had been injured.

The administrator is within the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which controls West Kordofan and has been at war with Sudan's military since 2023. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak for the RSF's self-declared parallel government.

Survivor Khair al-Sayyed Jabara said miners were trying to retrieve bodies or survivors with the same basic tools they use to extract gold. “We need heavy machinery to clear the rock and soil,” he said.

Another miner, Al-Amin Suleiman, said shafts at Al-Zaraa were close together and that one collapse could bring down neighbouring shafts. He said people were still trapped underground and added: “I don't think they are alive.”

Mine collapses are common across Sudan. Much of the country's gold comes from artisanal and small-scale mining in decommissioned mines or informal zones, where miners often work with their hands and rudimentary tools.

Since Sudan's war erupted, both sides have been largely funded by the country's gold trade, valued at billions of dollars. Sudanese officials and mining industry sources say nearly all gold extracted by both sides flows to the United Arab Emirates. The UAE denies widespread reports that it arms the RSF.

The conflict has left many Sudanese out of work and pushed people into dangerous small-scale mining. Industry figures cited in the item say artisanal mining employed more than two million people even before the war pushed nearly 20 million Sudanese into severe hunger.