CAR gold mine shut after official 49 deaths

The Central African Republic has temporarily shut the Zamboye artisanal gold mine near the Cameroonian border after a landslide killed 49 people, according to the country's mines ministry.

Mines Minister Rufin Benam-Beltoungou visited the site on Wednesday. The ministry said the official toll included 34 Central Africans, 13 Cameroonians and two Chadians.

Several local sources said around 100 people had died, with many still missing and likely buried beneath the rubble. Seven injured people were taken to hospital in Baboua, about 50 kilometres away.

The mining site was closed and access to the pit was barred on Thursday, an AFP correspondent reported. Security reinforcements, including personnel from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, were deployed to the area.

Rescue efforts were suspended because the mine continued to collapse and recent heavy rains flooded its lower sections. The sprawling open-pit site, known locally as Moscow-RCA, lies beside the Kadei river, which forms part of the border with Cameroon.

The mines ministry said the disaster highlighted the dangers of informal mining operations, particularly at sites with poor safety conditions. Civil society activist Crescent Beninga said similar collapses were not rare and pointed to another cave-in at the Be-Mbari gold mine, also near the Cameroonian border, that killed dozens of people in June.