JAKARTA, June 4, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – A total of six gold miners were
killed after a landslide struck an illegal gold mining area in North Sulawesi
province of Indonesia, a government official disclosed earlier Monday.
Heavy downpours were blamed for the incident taking place in Bakan village
of Bolaang Mangondow district, spokesman of national disaster management
agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
“They were still mining, albeit rains had heavily poured down,” he told
Xinhua in a text message.
Five out of the six corpses have been evacuated but the rest remains being
buried inside the mine, Sutopo cited.
The search and rescue for the missing one is underway, he added.
Illegal and traditional mining operations are common across the vast
archipelagic country. Indonesia, still lacking safety standards, has
frequently seen such incidents which ususally claim dozens of casualties.