Twelve women working in an illegal gold mine in the Indonesian province of North Sumatra were killed in a landslide that buried them, police said.
The accident, announced this Friday, occurred on Thursday and caused the death of 12 women between the ages of 30 and 55 who were digging for gold in an abandoned illegal mine.
The rescuers took hours to find the bodies of the victims, since they were in a hole two meters deep, which was full of mud.
“The cliff surrounding the mine collapsed and buried the 12 women, killing them all,” local police chief Marlon Rajagukguk told the AFP news agency, adding that the victims were not professional miners.
Two women who worked with the victims managed to survive and were the ones who informed the authorities of the accident.
The rescuers took hours to find the bodies of the victims, since they were in a hole two meters deep, which was full of mud.
Artisanal mines abound in this archipelago and locals often scavenge abandoned sites for gold scraps without proper protective equipment.
