Four killed in rock slide at Guinea gold-mining site
At least four people who were working in an old gold mine banned from use due to the risks of rock slides perished in the rock slide in northeast Guinea
In this file photo, soldiers watch the recovery operation of the bodies of unauthorized miners from a pit mine, on the grounds of a gold mining concession operated by multinational joint venture Surgold, in Sipaliwini district, some 150 kilometers southeast of Suriname's capital Paramaribo, Sunday, Nov 21, 2010.
At least four people including a two-year-old girl and her mother were killed in a rock slide at a gold-mining site in northeast Guinea, local police and officials said Sunday.
The accident happened on Saturday evening in Kintinian, in the northeast region of Siguiri, said Mamadi Magassouba, a public figure in Kintinian.
"At least four people perished in the rock slide on the grounds of a gold mine," he told AFP.
The death toll was confirmed by police and a representative of the local Red Cross.
Two other injured people were taken to hospital in Siguiri, a city around 600 kilometres (370 miles) north of the capital Conakry, the same sources said.
"The victims were working in an old gold mine banned from use due to the risks of rock slides" caused by heavy rain, said the Red Cross official.
At least 17 clandestine gold panners were killed in February in another mine in the region of Siguiri.
Rock slides on gold-mining sites in Guinea are frequent and often deadly. The Siguiri region alone has more than 20,000 gold panners, according to official sources.
Although Guinea is rich in minerals including bauxite, diamonds and gold, most of the population lives in poverty and struggles for daily survival.
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