BANGUI: Hopes of finding survivors of a collapsed gold mine in Central African Republic were fading Thursday, two days after the disaster killed more than 100 people and left others buried under debris.
Rescuers continued recovering bodies from the artisanal mining site in Zamboye, near the border with Cameroon, but local workers said the response lacked the equipment and expertise needed for a disaster of such scale.
“The rescue effort is being organised, but it is not up to the task,” said Jérémie Ngbiri, a miner at the site who lost his brother and a friend in the collapse.
Ngbiri said he saw some victims suffocate as people tried to rescue them.
The local Red Cross was helping with the search but could not say how many people remained buried, volunteer Gervais Ganagoro said.
“We continue to find bodies,” he said, adding that more than 10 were recovered Thursday morning alone. “Every hour, bodies are being discovered, increasing the number of victims.”
Local officials and the Red Cross said Wednesday that more than 100 people had died in the collapse and warned the toll was likely to rise.
The Baboua subprefecture court said in a statement that several underground tunnels in which the miners were working had collapsed, causing a landslide.
An investigation has been opened to determine why the tunnels collapsed, identify the victims and those responsible for operating the site, as well as establish any potential criminal liability, the statement said.
Artisanal mine collapses are common in Central African Republic, where thousands of people work in small-scale mining, often with little protection. Pits are frequently dug by hand and can reach several meters deep.
Without adequate reinforcement, shifting ground can cause tunnels to collapse suddenly, burying miners within seconds.
Mines Minister Rufin Benam Beltoungou expressed condolences to victims’ families and warned miners about the dangers of unsafe mining practices, according to a statement posted by the ministry.
Some of the victims were from neighboring Cameroon. Cameroon’s Mines Ministry said both Cameroonian and Central African miners were believed to be among the dead and deployed a team to assess the situation along the border. ”
Among the dead were four Cameroonians and two Chadians, Abdon Adamou, the mayor of Garoua-Boulai, a Cameroonian town near the mining site, told The Associated Press.
Researchers and local media reported earlier this year on unsafe and unregulated mining associated with a rapidly expanding gold rush around Zamboye, where the mine collapsed.
A 2025 report by U.N. experts documented illicit mining in the area, including the involvement of armed groups and the use of extraction methods that posed health and environmental risks.