At least seven miners have reportedly died, and two others
survived after a gold mine collapsed on them at Naknak in Kapoeta South County,
Eastern Equatoria State.
The incident occurred on Monday at around 10am.
All those who have died have not been identified by the
locals, as they claimed they had come far from Narus in Kapoeta East County to mine
gold, according to the commissioner of Kapoeta South County.
The survivors hail from Naknak.
“Kapoeta was blessed with rain yesterday. So, when it
rained, the holes got filled with water and got the miners inside the mine, as
they did not notice,” Juma Justin told Singaita 88.3 FM on Tuesday.
“The miners were in two deep holes that they had dug and
didn’t notice that it was raining.”
Joseph Lopeyok, 25, is one of the survivors. He says that
while inside the eight-meter hole, they heard water flowing.
“We were many inside, including adults and children, and
when we heard water flowing inside the hole, we started to chase the children
out,” he recalled.
“Unfortunately, three of us managed to climb out of the hole. However, one of us died immediately after we crawled out. He had breathed a lot of water into his lungs.”
Experts say South Sudan has the most important and
best-known sites for artisanal and small-scale gold mining, found mainly in the
Kapoeta area, Budi County, and Luri river basins of Central and Eastern
Equatoria states.
Some estimates put the number of miners at 60,000,
working at 80 different locations in the area, including Nanaknak, Lauro
(Didinga Hills), Napotpot, and Namurnyang. The work provides miners’ families
with resources to support their basic needs.
According to a report by the Enough project in 2020, the
gold mining sector in the Kapoeta area has been criminalized.
It also noted that despite its legal framework, South
Sudan’s gold sector remains ungoverned and poorly regulated.
