The survivors said the collapse took place at al-Zara gold mine in the town of Nuhud in West Kordofan province, which is controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that have been fighting against the Sudanese military for over three years.
The Sudan Doctors Network, a medical group tracking the war in Sudan, provided the death toll and said it could increase as rescuers continued to search for people trapped under the rubble. The group said the mine — an informal site that employs unregulated workers — lacked basic safety and protective measures.
Two survivors reached by phone and the physicians network said the tragedy took place on Tuesday evening. However, the Kordofan Observatory monitoring group said the collapse was on Sunday in a group of interconnected shafts at the mine that stretched over 1 kilometer (0.6 miles).
The Observatory said at least 70 miners were killed or missing at the site, which stretches across a wide swath of fragile, sandy soil. It described the miners as unregulated and informal workers.
The discrepancy in the accounts of when the collapse happened could not be immediately reconciled.
Survivors said many people remain missing. Khairal-Sayed Gabara, one of the survivors, said the collapse was “massive,” and that machinery needed to remove the collapsed soil and rubble was not available.
