A landslide at an illegal gold mine in West Sumatra province has killed at least 15 people and buried dozens of others in the abandoned pit with rescue workers struggling to locate the missing, officials said.
Unlicensed mines are common across the mineral-rich South-East Asian archipelago, where abandoned sites attract locals who hunt for leftover gold ore without proper safety equipment.
The landslide hit a remote site in the province on Thursday evening after heavy rains in the area, provincial disaster mitigation agency spokesperson Ilham Wahab said yesterday.
“The information we can provide was that a landslide occurred at a gold mine last night, causing several people to be buried. Efforts to search for the victims are ongoing,” he said, adding that 15 people were killed and three injured, with rescuers searching for 25 others.
Footage seen by AFP showed rescuers loading one of the dead into an ambulance near the disaster site in the district of Solok.
The Solok district disaster agency said that the landslide took place at an abandoned “illegal” mine.
Ilham said all activities at the site had been halted as search efforts for the missing were ongoing.
Search efforts were being hindered by the remote location, with rescuers including police officers, soldiers and civilians having to walk for hours from the nearest village to reach the area, Ilham said.
The Solok district disaster agency said in its statement that the area had no mobile phone signal, making it hard for rescuers to communicate with each other. — AFP
