JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Rescue workers stormed an unauthorized traditional gold mining area on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island on Tuesday, digging through tons of mud and debris left behind by a deadly landslide to search for dozens of missing people.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Rescue workers on Tuesday searched for dozens of missing people digging through tons of mud and debris left behind by a landslide that hit an unauthorized traditional gold mining area on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 11 people.
More than 100 villagers were digging for gold in the remote hilly village of Bone Bolango on Sunday when tonnes of mud cascaded down from the surrounding hills, burying their makeshift camp, provincial search and rescue chief Heliyanto said.
Rescuers found six bodies buried under tonnes of mud in the devastated village, which is home to a gold mine.
“Thanks to the improved weather we were able to retrieve more bodies,” said Heriyanto, who, like many Indonesians, goes by a single name.
According to data released by his office on Tuesday, some 52 villagers escaped the landslide, while rescuers have retrieved around 23 of them, including 18 injured, and recovered 17 bodies, including three women and a four-year-old boy. About 45 more people are still missing, it said.
Heavy rains that have been pounding the mountainous region since Saturday triggered landslides, breached levees and flooded roof-level homes in five villages in Bone Bolango, in Gorontalo province’s mountainous region, said Abdul Muhari, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency. Around 300 homes were damaged and more than 1,000 people fled for safety.
Authorities have deployed more than 200 rescue workers, including police and soldiers, using heavy machinery to search for the dead and missing, said Afifuddin Ilafdeh, a local rescue official, but efforts have been hampered by heavy rains, unstable ground and the rugged, forested terrain.
“The death toll is likely to rise as many people are still missing and remote areas remain difficult to reach,” Ilafude said, adding that sniffer dogs were being used in the search.
Video released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed rescuers using farm tools and sometimes their bare hands to pull muddy bodies from the thick mud, placing them in black bags and taking them away for burial.
Monsoon rains in Indonesia, an archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands with millions of people living in mountainous areas and near floodplains, frequently cause landslides and flash floods.
Informal mining is common in Indonesia, providing a precarious livelihood for thousands of people who work in conditions with a high risk of serious injury or death. Landslides, floods and tunnel collapses are just some of the dangers miners face. Much of the processing of gold ore involves the use of highly toxic mercury and cyanide, and workers often use little or no protective equipment.
The country’s last major mining-related accident was in April 2022, when a landslide occurred at an illegal traditional gold mine in Mandarin Natal regency, North Sumatra, killing 12 women prospecting for gold.
In February 2019, more than 40 people were buried to death at an illegal gold mine in North Sulawesi when a makeshift wooden structure collapsed due to a landslide and multiple mining pits.
Associated Press
