Landslide at Illegal Gold Site in Indonesia Claims 15 Dead

A landslide in Sumatra, Indonesia, buried miners at an illegal gold site, leaving 15 dead and many missing.

PADANG, Indonesia — A huge landslide caused by non-stop rain has wrecked a small gold-digging spot on Sumatra Island, killing at least 15 people and leaving dozens more missing, officials said on Friday.

The disaster happened when villagers were looking for gold in a far-off area of West Sumatra province called Solok district.

Irwan Effendi, who runs the local disaster response team, said about 25 people are still stuck under the rubble, while rescuers have pulled out three people, but they’re hurt.

The search in the worst-hit area around Nagari Sungai Abu village was tough, with ongoing mudslides, power cuts, and problems with phone lines.

“The mining spot is really remote, so it’s a four-hour hike from the closest village to get there,” Ilham Wahab, who talks for the disaster response team, pointed out.

In Indonesia, a lot of people make a living by digging for gold in the wild, and it’s a dangerous job. They often work in risky places, risking serious injury or death.

These miners deal with a bunch of dangers like landslides, floods, and tunnel collapses.

Also, the way gold is processed can be really bad for health, with harmful stuff like mercury and cyanide used, and many don’t have the right gear to protect themselves.

The number of mining accidents in Indonesia shows just how risky this work is. Just last July, something similar happened in Gorontalo province on Sulawesi Island, where a landslide hit an illegal gold mine, killing at least 23 people.

Also, in April 2022, a landslide in Mandailing Natal district in North Sumatra killed 12 women, and in 2019, over 40 people were buried when a wooden structure they were using fell because the ground was too unstable.

As the area tries to deal with what happened, it’s clear that informal gold mining is a really risky business.