Trapped Indonesian gold miners go silent as authorities continue precarious rescue - ABC News

The voices of dozens of people trapped in a collapsed Indonesian gold mine have fallen silent, an official overseeing the gruelling rescue effort says.

Key points:

• Rescue workers are no longer entering the mine with heavy equipment in their place
• The site sits in difficult territory with a ravine nearby
• Those trapped worked in an unlicensed mine, which are common throughout Indonesia

No-one has been saved from the remote mine located in steep terrain since Friday when the death toll stood at eight, with 20 people rescued.

Authorities believe about three dozen miners remain trapped.

"Since yesterday we have heard no more voices from inside. On this fourth day the signs of life faded away," Abdul Muin Paputungan said.

"But we still try to save them even though at the moment it seems like a miracle if they can survive."

Mr Paputungan said rescuers were currently not entering the mine in North Sulawesi's Bolaang Mongondow district because an excavator and other heavy equipment were operating at the site.

He said using the excavator was a precarious effort that required a high level of caution to prevent new landslides in the mine or the excavator itself toppling into a ravine.

More than 200 people from various agencies are involved in the rescue.

The unlicensed mine collapsed on Tuesday evening due to shifting soil and the large number of mining holes in the area.

Informal mining operations are commonplace in Indonesia, providing a tenuous livelihood to thousands who labour in conditions with a high risk of serious injury or death.

Survivor Denni Mamonto, being treated at a hospital in Mobagu, said on Friday he was working in the mine with a group of friends when the roof collapsed without warning and large rocks tumbled down on them.

"My leg was stuck, I was helped by two others and then three helped me lift the rocks off my feet, then another person from above helped me out," he said.

"But my friends didn't make it, those who work together with me."

AP

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March 02, 2019 at 03:21PM