Heavy rains late Thursday triggered the collapse of several artisanal mining pits in northwestern Nigeria, trapping an unknown number of miners beneath the earth, officials and community members said.
The disaster struck in Kadauri, a rural community in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State, after hours of rainfall softened the ground, causing the pits to cave in.
Rescue efforts were still underway on Friday, as local volunteers and emergency officials dug through unstable soil in search of survivors.
Bala Ahmad, the executive secretary of the Zamfara State Emergency Management Agency, confirmed the incident but said information remained incomplete. “I am currently in a meeting with stakeholders,” Mr. Ahmad told the News Agency of Nigeria in Gusau, the state capital. “We will provide further information in due course.”
Residents said some survivors had been rushed to Maru General Hospital with injuries, but many others were feared still underground. The precise number of casualties had not yet been determined.
Artisanal mining, which flourishes across Zamfara’s mineral-rich terrain, is often carried out without regulation or safety standards. Collapses are common, particularly during the rainy season when weakened soil gives way.
The Zamfara accident came just a day after another mining pit caved in at a site in Plateau State, in central Nigeria, killing at least four miners in the Dura community of Jos South Local Government Area.