Summary At least 60 workers died when an unlicenced desert gold mine collapsed in an area of Sudan's Darfur.
KHARTOUM (AFP) - More than 60 workers were killed when an unlicenced desert gold mine collapsed in an area of Sudan s Darfur where hundreds died in fighting over the precious commodity in January-February, the district chief said Thursday.
It was not known how many people may still be missing after Monday s accident in Jebel Amir district, more than 200 kilometres (125 miles) northwest of the North Darfur state capital El Fasher.
Production from unofficial gold mines has become a key revenue source for Sudan s cash-strapped government.
It is also a tempting but dangerous occupation for residents of Sudan s poverty-stricken western region of Darfur which has been devastated by a decade of civil war.
"The number of people who died is more than 60," said Haroun al-Hassan, local commissioner for Jebel Amir, adding that rescue operations were still taking place.
"I cannot give exact figures because no one got precise numbers of how many people were going inside the tunnel," which descends 40 metres (yards), he said.
Rescuers were using hand tools to try to reach the victims, he said, without specifying whether anyone might still be alive.
"We cannot use machines because if they came near, the ground will collapse. People are using traditional tools and because of this, the rescue is very slow," Hassan said, unable to give more details.
"I myself saw this land collapse. It started from Monday evening but the main collapse happened on Tuesday," said a miner who works in a different part of the area.
He said it is located in the hill or "jebel" which gives the area its name.
"Nobody takes the names of those who go inside. Only their colleagues or their relatives know where they are," the miner said, requesting anonymity.
They risk their lives, maybe striking gold but often coming up empty.
"Sometimes you spend more than three or four weeks without getting anything," the miner said. "Other times you get gold that you can sell for 10,000 pounds ($1,590)".
A resident of El Sireaf, the main town in the surrounding region, said he visited the remote site of the accident.
"The problem is that those small mines are so close together and if one of them falls it will affect the others. That is what happened in this mine. All the neighbouring mines collapsed," he said, also declining to be named.
Residents and members of the security forces were using hand tools to reach the victims, he added.
