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Sudanese Officials Say 14 Workers Dead in Gold Mine Collapse

A bird flies over the convergence between the White Nile river and Blue Nile river in Khartoum, Sudan, February 17, 2020. (Reuters)
A bird flies over the convergence between the White Nile river and Blue Nile river in Khartoum, Sudan, February 17, 2020. (Reuters)
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Sudanese Officials Say 14 Workers Dead in Gold Mine Collapse

A bird flies over the convergence between the White Nile river and Blue Nile river in Khartoum, Sudan, February 17, 2020. (Reuters)
A bird flies over the convergence between the White Nile river and Blue Nile river in Khartoum, Sudan, February 17, 2020. (Reuters)

At least 14 workers are dead after a gold mine collapsed in northern Sudan, mining authorities said Friday.

The fatal collapse happened after one of the hillsides that surround the Jebel Al-Ahmar gold mine - situated near the Egyptian border - subsided Thursday afternoon, the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company said in a short statement.

At least 20 other miners were injured in the collapse, it said. Some of the more seriously injured were transferred to the hospital.

Moataz Hajj, a spokesperson for the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company, told The Associated Press Friday that a search operation had managed to free the surviving trapped miners.

The workers had been searching inside mining wells for gold using heavy machinery which caused the collapse, according to witnesses cited in a report published by Sudan’s state-run news agency SUNA.

The dead have been transferred to the nearby town of Wadi Halfa and have since been buried, the state company said.

Sudan is a major gold producer with various mines scattered across the country. Collapses are common as safety standards and maintenance are poor.

In 2021, 31 people were killed after a defunct gold mine collapsed in West Kordofan province.

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Tunisia Groups Urge Inclusion of Rejected Candidates in Poll

FILE PHOTO: Tunisian President Kais Saied attends a signing ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 31, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Pool/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tunisian President Kais Saied attends a signing ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 31, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Pool/File Photo/File Photo
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Tunisia Groups Urge Inclusion of Rejected Candidates in Poll

FILE PHOTO: Tunisian President Kais Saied attends a signing ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 31, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Pool/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tunisian President Kais Saied attends a signing ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 31, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Pool/File Photo/File Photo

A petition signed by prominent Tunisians and civil society groups was published on Saturday urging that rejected candidates be allowed to stand in the October 6 presidential election, Agence France Presse reported.

Signed by 26 groups including Legal Agenda, Lawyers Without Borders and the Tunisian Human Rights League, it welcomed an administrative court decision this week to reinstate three candidates who had been disqualified.

They are Imed Daimi, who was an adviser to former president Moncef Marzouki, former minister Mondher Zenaidi and opposition party leader Abdellatif Mekki.

The three were among 14 candidates barred by the Tunisian election authority, ISIE, from standing in the election.

If they do take part, they will join former parliamentarian Zouhair Maghzaoui and businessman Ayachi Zammel in challenging incumbent President Kais Saied.

Saturday's petition was also signed by more than 180 civil society figures including Wahid Ferchichi, dean of the public law faculty at Carthage University.

It called the administrative court "the only competent authority to adjudicate disputes related to presidential election candidacies.”

The petition referred to statements by ISIE head Farouk Bouasker, who on Thursday indicated that the authority will soon meet to finalize the list of candidates, "taking into consideration judicial judgements already pronounced.”

This has been interpreted as suggesting the ISIE may reject new candidacies if they are the subject of legal proceedings or have convictions.

The administrative court's rulings on appeals "are enforceable and cannot be contested by any means whatsoever,” the petition said.

It called on the electoral authority to "respect the law and avoid any practice that could undermine the transparency and integrity of the electoral process.”