KHARTOUM, Sept 6, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Six people have been killed and up to 20  others are feared trapped after a gold mine collapsed in northern Sudan,  authorities said on Saturday. The accident occurred on Friday in the Um Aud area, west of the city of  Berber in River Nile state, said Hassan Ibrahim Karar, executive director of  the Berber locality. "Efforts are ongoing to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble," Karar said,  without specifying the cause of the collapse of the artisanal mine. Since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary  Rapid Support Forces, both sides have largely financed their war efforts  through the country's gold industry. Official and NGO sources say nearly all of Sudan's gold trade is funnelled  through the United Arab Emirates, which has been widely accused of supplying  arms to the RSF -- a charge it denies. Despite the conflict, the army-backed government announced record gold  production of 64 tonnes for 2024. Sudan, Africa's third-largest country by area, remains one of the continent's  top gold producers. However, most gold is extracted through artisanal and small-scale mining  operations, which lack proper safety measures and often use hazardous  chemicals, resulting in severe health risks for miners and nearby  communities. Before the war pushed 25 million Sudanese into acute food insecurity,  artisanal mining employed more than two million people, according to industry  figures. Today, mining experts say much of the gold produced by both warring factions  is smuggled through Chad, South Sudan and Egypt before reaching the UAE --  currently the world's second-largest gold exporter. The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced roughly 10  million people, creating the world's largest displacement crisis. An  additional four million Sudanese have fled across borders.