Dozens of Gold Miners Trapped After Pit Collapse in Central Nigeria

Dozens of gold min­ers are feared trapped under­ground after a pit col­lapse in cen­tral Nige­ri­a’s Niger State. The inci­dent occurred on Mon­day fol­low­ing heavy rain­fall that soft­ened the soil, trig­ger­ing the collapse.

News of the dis­as­ter emerged slow­ly due to a recent­ly called-off nation­al strike. As of Wednes­day morn­ing, offi­cials esti­mate over 30 min­ers remain trapped. Res­cue efforts are ongo­ing with exca­va­tors and emer­gency per­son­nel deployed to the scene.

One con­firmed fatal­i­ty has been report­ed, while six injured min­ers received treat­ment at a near­by hos­pi­tal. Nige­ri­a’s Min­is­ter of Sol­id Min­er­als, Dele Alake, dis­patched Mines Inspec­torate offi­cials to inves­ti­gate the cause of the col­lapse and pre­vent future tragedies.

The Shi­ro­ro area, where the mine is locat­ed, has a his­to­ry of crim­i­nal activ­i­ty and was pre­vi­ous­ly sub­ject to a min­ing ban due to safe­ty con­cerns. To ensure the safe­ty of res­cue work­ers, addi­tion­al secu­ri­ty mea­sures have been implemented.

Min­ing acci­dents are a recur­ring issue in Nige­ria, with many involv­ing unre­port­ed inci­dents relat­ed to ille­gal min­ing oper­a­tions. In Jan­u­ary, an explo­sion linked to improp­er­ly stored explo­sives by ille­gal min­ers in Ibadan result­ed in fatal­i­ties and injuries.