Landslide in an Indonesian gold mine killed 12 women

Police said a cliff crumbled, triggering a landslide that buried 12 women working in an illicit gold mine in Indonesia’s North Sumatra region.

Unlicensed mines are ubiquitous across Indonesia’s mineral-rich country, with abandoned sites attracting people who scavenge for residual gold ore without employing required safety equipment.

A crumbling cliff in North Sumatra’s Mandailing Natal area killed 12 women between the ages of 30 and 55 who were searching for gold in an abandoned illegal mine.

“The cliff around the mine fell and buried the 12 women, killing them all,” Marlon Rajagukguk, the local police commander, told AFP late Thursday.

Two other ladies who were working beside them managed to escape the calamity and returned to the hamlet to inform the authorities.

Rescuers had to work for hours to extricate the victims’ remains from a two-metre deep pit filled with muck.

“Now all the bodies of the victims have been returned to their family,” Rajagukguk added.

Illegal gold mining is widespread in Mandailing Natal, some 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of Medan, with numerous locations abandoned by the owners.

Landslides are a common cause of mining accidents around the archipelago, especially during the rainy summer months.

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