22 killed, several injured after ‘illegal’ goldmine collapses in Tanzania

The collapse of an illegal small-scale gold mine has killed at least 22 people in northern Tanzania following heavy rains, a senior government official said on Sunday.

The accident happened early on Saturday in the Simiyu region after a group of people aged between 24 and 38 years old started mining in an area where activity had been restricted due to ongoing heavy rains, Reuters reported.

The government has worked for years to improve safety for small scale miners but unsafe and unregulated illegal mining still occurs in Tanzania, which is Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer after South Africa, Ghana and Mali.