«ابتلعتهم الأرض أحياء».. فاجعة منجم الذهب في إفريقيا الوسطى تصدم العالم

The quest for "the sparkle of gold" turned into a dark nightmare in the Central African Republic, after the ground suddenly collapsed over the heads of dozens of workers near the Cameroonian border, transforming the mining site in the "Bé Mbari" area into a mass grave beneath the rubble.

Death Trap Beneath the Mud

In the early hours of dawn today, as the workers were making their way into primitive pits in search of the earth's riches, a massive landslide buried dozens under tons of rocks and mud. Eyewitnesses described the scene as a "mini Day of Judgment," as cries for help rose from beneath the earth, while primitive rescue teams stood helpless in the face of the enormity of the disaster.

This tragedy has once again highlighted the bitter reality of illegal mining operations in the Central African Republic, a country that floats above lakes of gold, diamonds, and uranium, yet its workers pay with their lives in illegal mines that lack the most basic safety standards. In these remote areas, the law is absent, and deadly adventure prevails, forcing residents to dig with simple tools inside pits that threaten to collapse at any moment.

As locals continue to dig with their bare hands in desperation to reach their loved ones, a state of shock and anger prevails in the surrounding villages. This disaster is not the first of its kind, but it is the largest in terms of the number of victims in recent months, raising sharp questions for the government regarding the absence of oversight on the "death mines" that claim the lives of the poor.