A landslide triggered by torrential rains hit an unauthorized gold mining operation on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, killing not less than 15 individuals, officers mentioned Friday (September 27, 2024). Dozens extra had been reported lacking.
Villagers had been digging for grains of gold on Thursday (September 26, 2024) within the distant Solok district of West Sumatra province when mud fell from the encircling hills and buried them, mentioned Irwan Effendi, chief from the native catastrophe mitigation company workplace.
He mentioned not less than 25 individuals had been nonetheless buried and that rescuers pulled out three individuals with accidents alive.
Search efforts within the worst affected space, close to the village of Nagari Sungai Abu, had been hampered by landslides that coated a lot of the world, energy outages and an absence of telecommunications.
“The devastated mining space can solely be reached by strolling for 4 hours from the closest settlement,” mentioned company spokesperson Ilham Wahab.
Casual mining operations are frequent in Indonesia and supply a precarious livelihood for 1000’s of individuals working in circumstances with a excessive danger of significant damage or loss of life.
Landslides, floods and tunnel collapses are simply a number of the risks miners face. A lot of gold ore processing includes extremely poisonous mercury and cyanide, and employees usually use little or no safety.
The nation’s final main mining-related accident occurred in July, when a landslide crashed into an unlawful conventional gold mine in Gorontalo province on the island of Sulawesi, killing not less than 23 individuals.
In April 2022, a landslide affected one other gold mine within the Mandailing Natal district of North Sumatra, killing 12 girls.
In February 2019, a makeshift picket construction at an unlawful gold mine in North Sulawesi province collapsed partly as a result of floor motion. Greater than 40 individuals had been buried.
Printed – September 27, 2024 04:24 pm IST
