VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A landslide, triggered by torrential rains, killed eight illegal gold miners and injured eight others in South Solok District, West Sumatra Province.

“Of the 16 victims, eight died, while eight others got injured,” Chief of the Emergency Section of the South Solok District Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Romi Aprijal, representing acting BPBD chief Richi Amran, stated on Monday night.

The BPBD has retrieved all bodies of the eight gold miners identified as Yasril, Buyung, Yuniadi, Ijal, Siat, Nova, Pam De, and Catno.

The injured were identified as Epi, Deri, Tomi, Sito, Eka, Fajrul, Abit, and Mitro.

Rescue workers are still conducting search for one gold miner, identified as Siman, who is still missing.

All victims have been evacuated manually due to the challenging terrain leading up to the scene, he stated.

In addition, a pile of large stones burying the gold mining site also made it difficult for the rescue workers to retrieve the bodies of the eight gold miners, he remarked.

To search for the missing gold miner, rescue workers have to use heavy-duty equipment to remove the large stones covering the gold mining site, he revealed. Aprijal stated that torrential rains, starting from Sunday evening to early Monday, caused the cliff around the mining site to collapse and bury the gold miners at around 7:30 a.m. local time. (Antaranews)