At least 23 people have died in central Venezuela after a wall of earth collapsed at an illegally operated gold mine while dozens of people were at work. Yorgi Arciniega, a local official, told the AFP news agency on Wednesday that about 23 bodies had been recovered from the open-pit mine known as Bulla Loca in the jungles of the state of Bolivar. Deputy Minister of Civil Protection Carlos Perez Ampueda published a video of the incident on X, and referred to \u201ca massive\u201d toll, though he provided no numbers. The video showed a wall of earth slowly collapsing upon people at work in the shallow waters of an open-pit mine. Some managed to flee while others were engulfed. Some 200 people were thought to have been working in the mine, which is a seven-hour boat ride from the nearest town, La Paragua, according to officials. Edgar Colina Reyes, the Bolivar state\u2019s secretary of citizen security, said the injured were being transported to a hospital in the regional capital Ciudad Bolivar, four hours from La Paragua, which lies 750 kilometres (460 miles) southeast of the capital Caracas. In La Paragua, desolate relatives waited on the shores for news of the miners. \u201cMy brother, my brother, my brother,\u201d cried one as he saw a body being taken off a boat. \u201cWe ask that they support us with helicopters to remove the injured,\u201d a woman waiting for news on her brother-in-law \u2013 a father of three \u2013 told AFP. Reyes said the military, firefighters and other organisations were \u201cmoving to the area by air\u201d to evaluate the situation. Rescue teams were also being flown in from Caracas to aid in the search, he said. The Bolivar region is rich in gold, diamonds, iron, bauxite, quartz and coltan. Aside from state mines, there is also a booming industry of illegal extraction. \u201cThis was bound to happen,\u201d resident Robinson Basanta told AFP of the unsafe working conditions of the miners, most of whom live in extreme poverty. \u201cThis mine has yielded a lot of gold \u2026 People go there out of necessity, to make ends meet,\u201d he said. In December last year, at least 12 people were killed when a mine in the Indigenous community of Ikabaru, in the same region, collapsed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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