Twelve women who "worked" in an illegal gold mine in the Mandailing Natal district of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra were killed when a piece of cliff collapsed, triggering a landslide that buried them.
The police reported this, stating that the victims were between 30 and 55 years old and were digging for gold in an abandoned illegal mine.
" The cliff around the mine collapsed and buried the 12 women, killing them all," local police chief Marlon Rajagukguk told AFP, adding that the victims were not professional miners.
The alarm was raised by two survivors, who managed to return to the village. Rescuers took hours to extract the bodies, which ended up in a hole two meters deep and full of mud.
Unlicensed mines are common throughout mineral rich Indonesia with abandoned sites attracting locals looking for the leftover gold ore without using proper safety equipment.
(Unioneonline / D)