Editor’s Note
This article reports on a tragic mine collapse in Tanzania’s Mererani region, where heavy rainfall led to flooding and the feared loss of dozens of lives. The incident underscores the perilous conditions in artisanal mining, particularly for the valuable gemstone Tanzanite. Rescue efforts are ongoing but severely hampered.
About 65 miners are feared dead after rainfall triggered the collapse of mines in Tanzania, the government says.
Six bodies have so far been recovered in the Mererani region, about 40km (25 miles) south-east of Arusha in north-eastern Tanzania.
Rescuers say the flooding is hampering their efforts and there is little hope of finding anyone else alive.
The area mines Tanzanite, a valuable blue gemstone found only in a small area near Arusha.
Ten years ago more than 100 Tanzanite miners died in an accident caused by heavy rain.
A regional commissioner, Henry Shekifu, told Associated Press news agency the men went missing on Friday amid heavy rains.
The government is trying to deploy equipment that will drain the mines, he said.
He said the flooding had affected 100 people – 35 had escaped the pit alive, six bodies had been found, and another 59 were missing.
He was jeered by some miners, as he addressed them at the pit entrance on Sunday, the French news agency AFP reported.
Thousands of workers have been drawn to Mererani to mine the Tanzanite.
Tanzania is also rich in diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires and is Africa’s third-largest gold producer.
The mining sector has boomed with economic liberalisation policies applied in the mid-1980s.