Fifty people buried in gold mine

Some 50 people were still unaccounted for Friday following a landslide at a gold mine that the government officially closed more than five years ago.

Five bodies and six injured have been recovered from the rubble so far. It is Burkina Faso’s worst recorded mining disaster.

Poor farmers and others continued to frequent the goldmine in Poura, 120 km west of the capital, Ouagadougou, despite the deployment of security forces to keep them out. Gendarmes, the military and later private security forces were especially charged with keeping people away during the rainy season.

Recent rains had softened the walls of the mine.

Security officials said the victims could be buried as deep as 300 metres below the muddy surface.

The landslide occurred Wednesday afternoon and officials said chances of finding survivors are very slim, even if they could have stayed alive for 48 hours in an aired area.

“We have tried several times in vain to prevent this disaster because we knew it was inevitable,” said Mouhoun regional governor Pascal Benon on national radio.

“It is regrettable because we do not have adequate means to prevent these traditional exploiters, nor to save their lives now. And hopes to find survivors have faded away."

Efforts to rescue the trapped miners were complicated by the lack of heavy digging equipment. Firefighters used ropes and buckets to lug away heavy mud at the entry of the mine. They suspended the search at night to avoid further victims among rescuers.

The governor said the mine needed to be definitively closed and security stepped up to prevent further access.

"Definitely, we need to put an end to this unauthorised activity that may cause worse havoc in the future,” said Sylvain Doumboue, a Mining Ministry official, told national radio.

The gold mine was officially closed in 1999, but traditional miners made up of farmers who live in the surrounding area continued to frequent the site despite safety warnings.

Authorities said they feared even more miners would turn up in Poura despite the recent tragedy.

Local folklore says that when many people die in a mine it means it is full of gold.

bo/cs/ccr