KHARTOUM: A gold mine collapsed in northern Sudan killing at least 10 people and injuring 21 others, two survivors told AFP on Sunday after overnight rescue efforts.
Since war erupted in April 2023 between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the war efforts of both sides have been largely funded by the country's billion-dollar gold trade, in addition to foreign backers.
Shafts of the Awny mining area near Sudan's border with Egypt collapsed on Saturday.
By Sunday morning "10 bodies had been recovered and 21 injured miners pulled out", said one of the survivors who was working at the mine when it collapsed, requesting anonymity for security reasons.
Another survivor, also requesting anonymity, told AFP the rescue operation was "being carried out by the miners themselves" with little equipment available.
More miners were feared dead under the rubble and survivors said the search for the missing was ongoing.
Many young Sudanese have joined a dangerous gold rush, working in unregulated mines with their hands and rudimentary tools for meagre daily wages.
They face chemical poisoning and regular mine collapses.
Last week at least 82 people were killed and dozens injured in a collapse in the southern Kordofan region.
Artisanal and small-scale mining, which takes place in unofficial zones or decommissioned mines, accounts for the majority of gold extracted in Sudan.
According to Sudanese officials and mining industry sources, nearly all of the gold produced by both sides of the war flows to the United Arab Emirates, which denies reports that it arms the RSF.
Even before the war pushed nearly 20 million Sudanese into severe hunger, artisanal mining employed more than two million people, according to industry figures.
Africa's third-largest country is one of the continent's top gold producers, and recorded a "five-year high" of 70 tonnes of production last year, the government said.
But officials say most of the gold is smuggled across Sudan's borders, including through Chad, South Sudan and Egypt before reaching the UAE, the world's second-largest gold exporter.