중앙아프리카공화국서 불법 금광 붕괴로 최소 100명 사망

A collapsed illegal gold mine in the Central African Republic has claimed at least 100 lives, with numerous others still missing, according to reports from AFP and AP news agencies. Eyewitnesses and local media describe the collapse of multiple underground tunnels at the Jamba mine, located about 50 kilometers west of Bamboutos, near the border between the Central African Republic and Cameroon.

The mine's owners were reportedly working in the tunnels when the collapse occurred, causing a landslide. The Central African Republic's police have launched an investigation into the incident, stating that the exact scale of the damage is still unclear. Cameroon's state broadcaster, CRTV, reported that the number of fatalities exceeded 100, while some local media sources even claimed the number could be as high as 107.

Video footage from the scene shows workers lifting the bodies of young miners out of the mine's collapsed shafts. One affected miner, Sedrick Ndombang, described the collapse as "catastrophic" to AFP. This incident marks the deadliest mining accident in the Central African Republic, where illegal mining operations are common and landslides are frequent.

In June, a similar landslide at another illegal gold mine on the Cameroon-Central African Republic border killed dozens of miners. In mid-March, a landslide at a mine in the village of Ambokuru in Central African Republic's west killed seven people, and in February, 20 miners died in a landslide in the north-eastern Gorodji region.

Across the border in Cameroon, illegal mining operations continue to be a major issue, with dozens of unauthorized mines collapsing and causing countless casualties each year. In 2022, a landslide at a mine in the east killed at least 33 miners, prompting the government to close 30 mines. Cameroon's government reported in May that over 200 unauthorized mines operated without permits.