There are more than 70 dead in mine collapse in Darfur, Sudan rescue operations are inadequate.

More than 70 miners were killed this week in Sudan’s Darfur region when the gold mine they were working in collapsed, a police spokesman said on Thursday.

Ahmed Amr said fighting had broken out in January between two tribes over access to the mine in the Jebel Amir area of North Darfur, and authorities had closed it after several people were killed in the violence. It had since reopened.

A member of parliament from the area said the mine collapsed on Monday, and word had only reached Khartoum on Thursday. A witness told  by phone that rescue efforts had failed.

Half a million artisan miners have joined a gold rush across Sudan, according to the government, which estimates it made $2.5 billion from gold exports last year.

Law and order has collapsed in most parts of Darfur, an arid region in Sudan’s west, since mainly non-Arab rebels took up arms in 2003 against the government.

Despite the presence of the world’s largest peacekeeping mission, UNAMID, fighting between Sudan’s army and rebels has continued since then, alongside banditry and tribal clashes.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News