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More than 40 people, mostly women, were killed after an illegal gold mine collapsed in Mali on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The collapse took place near K\u00e9ni\u00e9ba, in Mali’s western, gold-rich Kayes region.<\/p>\n
The victims had climbed into open-pit areas left by industrial miners to look for scraps of gold when the earth around them caved in, a gold miner’s union leader told Reuters.<\/p>\n
This is Mali’s second deadly mining accident in three weeks<\/a>, after at least 10 people were killed when a mining tunnel flooded late in January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There are conflicting reports on the number people who died in Saturday’s accident.<\/p>\n A local police source told the AFP news agency that 48 people were killed in the collapse, while the head of an industry union told Reuters there were 43 victims. <\/p>\n “Some of the victims fell into the water. Among them was a woman with her baby on her back,” the local police source told AFP.<\/p>\n Rescue workers have been able to retrieve the bodies, local sources told the BBC.<\/p>\n Mali is one of the biggest gold producers in the world. <\/p>\n Accidents are common in the country as much mining activity is unregulated, with miners using unsafe methods to dig for gold.<\/p>\n