Officials from the Bolaang Mongondow District Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) said today that they are readying 60 body bags to prepare for the absolute worst case scenario in their attempt to rescue dozens of illegal gold mine workers who have been trapped since the mine collapsed last Tuesday.
As of late Friday evening, eight people have been declared dead while 20 others have been successfully rescued — many of whom sustained major injuries — leaving an estimated 60 workers still trapped in the mine.
“At first we prepared 30 body bags,” Bolaang Mongondow BPBD head Abdul Muin Paputungan told reporters today, as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
“But based on information gained from locals, it is estimated there are more gold miners trapped than initially predicted — around 60 miners.”
Abdul did not speculate on how likely it would be for the still-trapped miners to survive, but, as the presence of the body bags may suggest, hopes are fading as the rescue effort enters its second week tomorrow.
According to reports, dozens of workers at the mine — which was being operated illegally without a permit — were mining for gold at around 11 pm local time last Tuesday when beams and supporting boards broke due to unstable soil conditions, triggering a landslide at the site.
Rescue efforts have taken longer than hoped as heavy machinery can’t be used in the steep and slippery terrain at the site.
Mineral-rich Indonesia has scores of unlicensed mining sites and safety regulations are routinely flouted. In fact, this isn’t event the first incident involving an illegal mine in Bolaang Mongondow — five miners were killed in another gold mine accident there in December.
Environmentalists called on local officials to enforce regulations and safety measures in response to the accident.
“We predicted this was going to happen,” said Theo Runtuwene, a local director for the Indonesian Forum for the Environment.
“The area is mountainous and (miners) dug holes there, which is extremely risky… There are dozens of sites in North Sulawesi where the ground is very unstable, especially during the rainy season,” he added.
In 2016, 11 miners died after a mudslide engulfed an illegal gold mine in Sumatra’s Jambi province.
A year before, 12 people were killed when a shaft collapsed after they tunnelled into a disused gold mine on Java island.
With additional reporting by AFP
