A landslide at an illegal gold mine in Indonesia has killed seven people and injured five, authorities said on Saturday, and said a dozen people were still missing.
“There are seven dead and five injured. The others are still missing,” Lembah Bawang district official Adris (he has only one name, like many Indonesians) told AFP.
The accident happened on Thursday, but the information became known later because the mine was located in a remote area.
Victims were busy panning for gold on a hilltop when a landslide caused by heavy rains hit West Kalimantan province on the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. A total of twenty people were buried.
Artisanal mines abound on this mineral-rich Southeast Asian archipelago, where abandoned sites attract locals in search of gold without proper safety gear.
This type of drama is common in Indonesia, especially during the rainy season.
A police officer, Bayu Seno, said help is on its way from the nearest town, Pontianak, more than 160 kilometers from the landslide-hit area.
He estimated the search could take a week, but if the rain continues, the search could be postponed “to avoid further landslides.”
In April, 12 women working in an illegal gold mine in North Sumatra province were killed when a cliff collapsed.
Last year six miners were killed when an illegal mine collapsed in Parigi Moutong on the island of Celebes.
In 2020, eleven miners were killed in a landslide in Sumatra.