LUANDA, Angola — At least 28 people have been confirmed dead after a devastating landslide tore through an illegal gold mining operation in Angola’s northwestern Bengo province.
The tragedy stands as one of the deadliest artisanal mining disasters in the southwest African nation’s recent history.
Okay News reports that the province’s civil protection and fire service issued a statement confirming that four survivors were successfully pulled from the rubble on Sunday before first responders officially concluded search and rescue operations.
Local authorities disclosed that the victims of Saturday’s collapse were young laborers aged between 16 and 35 years old.
While illegal mining networks in Angola have historically targeted the country’s rich diamond deposits, a state-led push to diversify the mining sector has inadvertently triggered a boom in unregulated, artisanal extraction of precious metals like gold.
Angola, traditionally a leading global diamond producer, has aggressively expanded operations into copper and gold reserves to cushion its economy against plunging international diamond prices and the disruptive rise of laboratory-grown synthetic gems.
