At least 60 small-scale miners have been killed after a gold mine collapsed in southern Sudan, with more people feared trapped under the rubble, according to two survivors who spoke to AFP on Wednesday.
Several shafts at the Al-Zaraa gold mine near El-Nahud in West Kordofan began collapsing on Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, rescuers had recovered 60 bodies, while the search for other missing miners continued.
The disaster comes as Sudan’s gold industry remains a key source of funding for both sides of the conflict that erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The war has further weakened Sudan’s fragile economy, leaving millions without reliable livelihoods and driving many people into dangerous small-scale gold mining.
Sudan is also facing the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises, with nearly 20 million people experiencing crisis levels of hunger.
