Thirty dead in Central African Republic Gold mine collapse

At least 30 miners are dead and others are trapped following the collapse of a gold mining site in the western part of Central African Republic. The low-tech, artisanal mine collapsed in the Abba region of the Nana-Mambere prefecture, according to Florian Gaguende, one of the surviving miners. He said rescuers were searching for additional miners believed trapped, but that the chance of finding them alive "is getting slimmer."  The sub-prefecture's deputy mayor, Souleymane Bi, said rescuers and residents managed over several hours to pull 30 bodies from the collapsed mine, and injured miners were receiving treatment.
Government spokesman Evariste Ngamana sympathised with families of the victims and said authorities are "working hard to provide relief and assistance" to those affected. Artisanal mine collapses are common in the Central African Republic, where several thousand people work in small-scale extraction mining. The work is risky because miners typically do not have enough protection and the accidents are often deadly.