Open-Pit Gold Mine Collapses in Venezuela, and Dozens of People Are Feared Dead

An illegally operated open-pit gold mine collapsed in central Venezuela while dozens of people were working there, leaving an undetermined number of people dead or trapped, officials said Wednesday.

The accident took place in the Angostura municipality on Tuesday when a wall collapsed at a mine known as Bulla Loca, which can only be reached by an hours-long boat ride. Officials did not yet have a full tally of those killed, trapped or injured, Venezuela’s Ministry of Communication and Information said Wednesday, and no details of rescue efforts were released.

Angostura Mayor Yorgi Arciniega said late Tuesday that he planned to take “some 30 caskets” to a community near the mine, indicating that officials feared the death toll could rise into the dozens.

Venezuela’s government in 2016 established a huge mining development zone stretching across the middle of the country, to add new revenues alongside its oil industry. Since then, mining operations for gold, diamonds, copper and other minerals have proliferated within and outside that zone.

Many mines operate outside or on the margins of the law. They offer lucrative jobs for ordinary Venezuelans, but conditions are brutal.