The artisanal mine in the Siguiri region, bordering Mali, collapsed on Saturday and killed miners instantly, according to the area councilor.
At least 15 people have been killed in a landslide at a gold mine in northeastern Guinea’s Siguiri region, officials said, while rescuers on Sunday continued digging through the rubble in search of survivors.
The artisanal mine near the village of Tatakourou collapsed on Saturday and killed the miners instantly, said Sekou Biniou Simagan, a local councilor.
On Saturday evening, the bodies of the 15 artisanal miners, who were all men and aged between 14 and 40, were recovered. They were buried in a mass grave after performing funeral rites.
Sinaman Traore, a gold packer from the mine, said he had seen volunteers rescue two colleagues.
The West African country has seen a large number of accidents in artisanal mines, especially around Siguiri, near the border with Mali, a region where there are officially more than 20,000 gold miners.
In February 2019, at least 17 clandestine miners died in a landslide and a dozen nine months later.
Although the country has rich deposits of minerals such as bauxite, diamonds and gold, most of the population faces a daily struggle to survive, and the UN estimates that approximately one in two lives below the poverty line.
