Dozens of families are digging through loose sand with bare hands and basic tools. They are trying to save loved ones buried 30 meters underground.
At least 82 people died after a catastrophic collapse at the al-Zara gold mine in West Kordofan province. The disaster highlights a brutal reality of Sudan's informal mining sector. A source within the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which controls the region, confirmed the climbing death toll alongside local activists and emergency response networks. Another 50 people sustained injuries. Many more remain trapped under tons of shifting dirt.
The tragedy didn't happen overnight. The disaster started on Sunday in a single shaft before ripping through a network of interconnected tunnels spanning over a kilometer of fragile, sandy terrain. Survivors like Khairal-Sayed Gabara described the situation as catastrophic. Miners spent hours working through the night using whatever small tools they could find. They lacked heavy equipment. They lacked professional safety protocols. They faced a race against time with only a single privately owned forklift available to clear the rubble.
The Danger Beneath Sudan's Gold Rush
Sudan sits on massive mineral wealth. It stands as one of Africa's major gold producers. But that wealth comes with a devastating human cost.
Thousands of artisanal and informal mines operate across the country without basic regulations. Workers descend deep into narrow, unsupported shafts carved into loose soil. They chase a livelihood despite knowing the risks. Safety gear is virtually non-existent. Regulatory oversight vanished long ago, buried beneath years of devastating civil war.
When the conflict between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary RSF erupted over three years ago, it fractured the state's institutions. Oversight collapsed completely. In regions controlled by armed factions, natural resources like gold fund military operations instead of infrastructure or safety improvements. Informal mines operate in a legal and operational vacuum. Workers take terrifying risks because alternative survival options in a war-torn economy simply do not exist.
Why Traditional Rescues Fail
When a collapse happens in a remote area like Nuhud, standard disaster response does not arrive. There are no specialized urban search and rescue teams with hydraulic lifts, seismic sensors, or shoring equipment.
Instead, rescue operations rely entirely on grassroots networks and surviving miners. Local groups like the Sudan Doctors Network and the Emergency Response Rooms warn that official numbers likely undercount the true scale of the disaster. When a mine shaft stretches nearly 100 feet deep through unstable ground, a single forklift cannot move the mountains of collapsed earth trapping human lives.
Similar tragedies surface with grim regularity. In 2021, a collapse killed 38 miners. Another incident in 2023 claimed 14 lives. Smaller accidents go entirely unreported. The remote geography of West Kordofan and Darfur means news trickles out slowly, often delayed by internet blackouts and active combat zones.
What Comes Next for Informal Miners
The al-Zara disaster is a symptom of a much deeper economic collapse. As long as millions face extreme poverty and displacement from the ongoing war, people will continue risking their lives in unfortified shafts.
International bodies and monitoring groups have repeatedly pointed out that gold extraction in these zones fuels armed conflict rather than local development. For the people working the pits, however, politics take a backseat to daily survival. They dig because they have to eat.
Right now, dozens of families in West Kordofan are still waiting for news at the edge of the pit. They don't need speeches or statements from distant capitals. They need heavy machinery, immediate medical supplies, and basic protections that stop the next shaft from giving way.
