A landslide at a gold mine in southern Mali has killed around 10 people and left many others missing, most of them women, authorities said on Thursday.
Mali is one of Africa's leading gold producers.
Gold mining sites are regularly the scene of deadly landslides and authorities struggle to control artisanal mining of the precious metal.
The accident happened on Wednesday in the village of Danga, where "a landslide trapped a group of gold miners, the majority of whom were women", the governorate of the Koulikoro region said in a Facebook post.
Devastation
The victims "found themselves trapped in a hole, submerged in muddy water that wreaked devastation", it added.
"Unfortunately, none of them were able to escape".
The statement said the landslide caused "several casualties."
Ousmane Diakite, an official from the regional mines department, told AFP that the provisional toll was "around 10 dead and some missing".
'No survivors'
Messages circulating on social media suggested a much higher death toll.
"What is certain is that there are no survivors," said the mayor of a nearby town, requesting anonymity to speak more freely.
Photos published by the governorate and on social media show a vast open-air site with upturned earth, punctuated by holes filled with muddy water.
The images show men standing on the edge of one of the pits with excavators below.
Dangerous conditions
"No bodies could be recovered" due to the dangerous conditions, the governorate said.
Muddy waters engulfed a mechanical excavator but the search is continuing at the site, it added.
In January 2024, more than 70 people died after a tunnel collapsed at a gold mining site in the same region as this week's landslide.
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