PARAMARIBO, Nov 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Suriname authorities declared two days of national mourning on Wednesday as the toll from an accident in an illegal gold mine climbed to 15.
The collapse occurred Monday at a mine where people had been “looking for gold in a sort of improvised tunnel of considerable depth,” President Chan Santokhi told the National Assembly at the time.
According to residents, 20 to 30 miners were working in a hole they had excavated themselves, located at the Rosebel Gold Mines which are operated by a subsidiary of the Chinese company Zijin Mining.
The mine is in the Brokopond district, about 100 kilometers south of the capital Paramaribo.
Suriname rescue teams are continuing their search for possible survivors but are encountering difficulties due to unstable terrain and fears of further collapses.
The toll had previously stood at 14.
Rosebel Gold Mines said it regretted the deaths in a statement Tuesday, but added that it had asked authorities last month to evict the illegal miners.
Such accidents occur regularly in illegal mining operations, which are common in multiple countries across the northern part of South America. — NNN-AGENCIES
