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At least 28 miners, nearly half from one family, have died after a small artisanal gold mine collapsed in northern Angola over the weekend, officials and local media reported on Monday.
The collapse occurred early on Saturday at a mine in Bengo province, northeast of the capital Luanda, a police official told national broadcaster TPA.
“These young people were extracting strategic minerals, namely gold, in this area and at a certain point the mine collapsed,” the official said on Sunday, adding that authorities were still searching for other bodies.
The victims were aged between 18 and 45 years, according to police.
A rescue department official told local media that 13 of the dead came from the same family.
Angola’s rich deposits of diamonds and other minerals, including gold, reportedly draw thousands of men, including from neighbouring countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, to illegal and uncontrolled mines.
Bengo officials estimated there were around 7,000 illegal miners involved in gold extraction in the province, the Angola Press Agency reported.
