Sudan Gold Mine Collapse Kills 11, Injures 30, Search Continues For Missing Miners

At least 11 miners were killed and 30 others injured after a gold mine shaft collapsed in northeastern Sudan, with rescuers continuing to search for people feared trapped under the debris, officials said.

The collapse occurred late Saturday in Oni, a remote mining area in Sudan’s Red Sea state. An official from the state-owned Sudanese Mineral Resources Company said 11 bodies had been recovered by Sunday, while 30 miners were rescued. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The company expressed condolences for those killed but did not provide further details on the casualties. The number of miners still missing remained unclear as rescue teams continued operations at the site.

The disaster is the second major collapse at an informal gold mine in Sudan within a week, highlighting the dangers faced by workers in the country’s largely small-scale and poorly regulated mining sector.

Last week, at least 82 people were killed when a series of shafts collapsed at another gold mine in western Sudan. That mine was in an area controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting Sudan’s military since April 2023.

Sudan has thousands of informal gold-mining operations, where safety standards are often poorly enforced. Repeated accidents have raised concerns over working conditions and the lack of adequate safety and rescue equipment.

The latest disaster comes as Sudan remains engulfed in a devastating war. The conflict has killed at least 59,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data monitoring group, although aid organisations say the actual toll could be considerably higher.

Gold is also strategically important to Sudan’s war economy. Experts commissioned by the United Nations have reported that large quantities of Sudanese gold are smuggled out of the country, with proceeds helping finance armed groups, including the RSF.