Terrifying footage has captured the moment a gold mine collapsed in Zamboye, a village in western Central African Republic near the border with Cameroon, in an accident that has reportedly killed more than 100 people.
A Red Cross volunteer involved in the relief effort told the Associated Press that more than 100 bodies had been recovered from the collapse.
Footage from the scene showed miners, mostly young men and women covered in mud, pulling bodies from the pit while dozens of others were scattered around the site, some shouting for help.
The landslide is believed to have been caused by the collapse of several underground tunnels in which miners were operating, according to the public prosecutor in Baboua, who announced that a judicial inquiry has been opened.
Officials say the death toll is likely to rise, as several people remain missing and others are still trapped under the rubble.
Artisanal mine collapses are common in the mineral-rich but poorly regulated Central African Republic, where thousands work in small-scale extraction outside state control.
The Zamboye disaster follows a string of similar tragedies in the country, including a collapse at the Be-Mbari gold mine in June that killed dozens, a landslide in Ngourroum in March that killed seven, and another at a mining site in Gordi in February that killed 20.
The accident has prompted condemnation from opposition leaders in both the Central African Republic and Cameroon over the conditions under which artisanal miners are made to work.
