Rescuers recover more bodies after Central African Republic mine collapse kills over 100

0 seconds of 58 secondsVolume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up Video shows officers fall as a second-story deck collapses while they try to make an arrest 00:28 00:00 00:58 00:58 More Videos 00:28 Video shows officers fall as a second-story deck collapses while they try to make an arrest 01:15 Cameroon’s women’s soccer team returns to hero’s welcome in Yaoundé after maiden Africa Cup triumph 01:00 AP top stories August 17 01:11 What beats seeing eclipses from space? Try the northern and southern lights 01:08 Hayden Panettiere, star of 'Heroes' and 'Nashville,' dies at 36 01:13 Trump threatens Oman as it works with Iran on a Strait of Hormuz deal 00:29 New images show moon crater carved by SpaceX rocket 00:21 Trump says record-setting Navy deployment to support Iran operations 'not nearly long enough' Close More than 100 people have died in a gold mine collapse in the western Central African Republic, with others still missing or trapped, officials said. The artisanal mine caved in Tuesday in the village of Zamboye near the Cameroon border. By Jean Fernand Koena Updated 1:16 PM MESZ, August 20, 2026 Leer en español Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Bangui, Central African Republic (AP) — Hopes of finding survivors of a collapsed gold mine in Central African Republic were fading Thursday, two days after the disaster killed more than 100 people and left others buried under debris. Rescuers continued recovering bodies from the artisanal mining site in Zamboye, near the border with Cameroon, but local workers said the response lacked the equipment and expertise needed for a disaster of such scale. “The rescue effort is being organized, but it is not up to the task,” said Jérémie Ngbiri, a miner at the site who lost his brother and a friend in the collapse. Ngbiri said he saw some victims suffocate as people tried to rescue them. The local Red Cross was helping with the search but could not say how many people remained buried, volunteer Gervais Ganagoro said. “We continue to find bodies,” he said, adding that more than 10 were recovered Thursday morning alone. “Every hour, bodies are being discovered, increasing the number of victims.” Local officials and the Red Cross said Wednesday that more than 100 people had died in the collapse and warned the toll was likely to rise. The Baboua subprefecture court said in a statement that several underground tunnels in which the miners were working had collapsed, causing a landslide. Death toll in mine collapse in Central African Republic rises to more than 100 1 MIN READ Gold mine collapses in Central African Republic, killing at least 30 miners 1 MIN READ At least 14 artisanal miners killed in collapse at an illicit mine in South Africa 1 MIN READ An investigation has been opened to determine why the tunnels collapsed, identify the victims and those responsible for operating the site, as well as establish any potential criminal liability, the statement said. Artisanal mine collapses are common in Central African Republic, where thousands of people work in small-scale mining, often with little protection. Pits are frequently dug by hand and can reach several meters deep. Without adequate reinforcement, shifting ground can cause tunnels to collapse suddenly, burying miners within seconds. Mines Minister Rufin Benam Beltoungou expressed condolences to victims’ families and warned miners about the dangers of unsafe mining practices, according to a statement posted by the ministry. Some of the victims were from neighboring Cameroon. Cameroon’s Mines Ministry said both Cameroonian and Central African miners were believed to be among the dead and deployed a team to assess the situation along the border. ” Among the dead were four Cameroonians and two Chadians, Abdon Adamou, the mayor of Garoua-Boulai, a Cameroonian town near the mining site, told The Associated Press. Researchers and local media reported earlier this year on unsafe and unregulated mining associated with a rapidly expanding gold rush around Zamboye, where the mine collapsed. A 2025 report by U.N. experts documented illicit mining in the area, including the involvement of armed groups and the use of extraction methods that posed health and environmental risks. Associated Press writers Nalova Akua and Ngala Killian Chimtom in Yaoundé, Cameroon contributed to this report.