A drama in Tanzania. Twenty-two artisanal miners died in a landslide in a mine in the north of the country, we learned from emergency services on Sunday. The tragedy occurred in a mine in the Bariadi district, in the Simuyu region, more than 500 km north of the capital Dodoma.
“As we end rescue operations, the death toll stands at 22, all men,” the region’s acting head of rescue services, Faustine Mtitu, told reporters on Sunday afternoon.
The president speaks
“We are convinced that there are no more bodies stuck in the debris,” he announced, adding that security measures had not been respected at the mining site, without further details. . A little earlier, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced “with great sadness” the death of 21 miners and praised their memory.
“These fellow Tanzanians were artisanal miners in the region, trying to earn a living for themselves and their families, and contributing to the development of the country,” she wrote in a message posted on did not give details on the exact circumstances of the accident, of which we did not know precisely when it occurred.
Tanzania is the fourth largest gold producer on the continent and mining accidents are not exceptional there, with miners often lacking adequate safety equipment. In January 2017, 15 of them were rescued after being stuck underground for two days, following the collapse of their artisanal mine.
Heavy precipitation
Tanzania and other East African countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia have been facing torrential rains linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon for several weeks, which have displaced more than a million people. people in Somalia and left more than 300 dead in the region.
Such precipitation is likely to weaken the support structures of mines, particularly artisanal ones. However, the Tanzanian authorities have not yet established a link between the accident and the bad weather conditions.
In early December, 76 people died in landslides in northern Tanzania, in the Katesh region. These floods forced 5,600 people to flee their homes. This emergency situation in the north of the country led the president to cut short her participation in the 28th United Nations climate conference (COP28) in Dubai.