Sudan gold mine collapse kills at least 82 people with many more missing

SHENDI, Sudan — The death toll from the collapse of an informal gold mine in a remote area of Sudan has risen to 82, according to local officials and activists, as rescuers struggled on Wednesday to search for the missing with limited equipment.

It’s the latest tragedy in a nation mired in a devastating war.

Survivors said that the collapse happened at the al-Zara gold mine, in Nuhud, a town in West Kordofan province, which is controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. The group has been fighting against the Sudanese military for more than three years.

Suleiman Abu Hmeida, a member of the Emergency Response Rooms, said that rescuers pulled out 82 bodies by Wednesday afternoon. “But dozens remain unaccounted for,” Abu Hmeida told The Associated Press.

The Emergency Response Rooms is a grassroots network that monitors the conflict and provides support for communities across war-torn Sudan.

A local administration official also said that 82 bodies were recovered.

The official said that the collapse began on Sunday in one of the mine shafts and spread to the other interconnected shafts. He said that only one privately owned forklift is available for the rescue efforts, complicating the search…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/world