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.



Israel Issues Evacuation Warning for Five Southern Lebanese Towns

A civil defense member walks among the debris at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighborhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
A civil defense member walks among the debris at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighborhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
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Israel Issues Evacuation Warning for Five Southern Lebanese Towns

A civil defense member walks among the debris at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighborhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
A civil defense member walks among the debris at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighborhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

The Israeli army issued a statement on Sunday requesting the residents of five towns in southern Lebanon to evacuate in anticipation of airstrikes, while warning residents not to head south.
The military told the residents of Zawtar al-Sharqiya, Zawtar al-Gharbiya, Arnoun, Yuhmor, and al-Qusayba, to evacuate their homes immediately and move north of the Awwali River.
“You must evacuate immediately to the north of Awwali River to ensure your safety, you must evacuate without delay. Anyone near Hezbollah fighters, facilities or weapons is putting their life at risk”, added the statement.
In a separate statement, the army said that sirens sounded in central Israel due to Hezbollah rockets fired from Lebanon.
It added that six projectiles were detected crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory, and that its air forces intercepted five of the rockets, while the last one landed in an open area.