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NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s leading online newspaper. Published by Africa’s international award-winning journalist, Mr. Isaac Umunna, NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s first truly professional online daily newspaper. It is published from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and media hub, and has a provision for occasional special print editions. Thanks to our vast network of sources and dedicated team of professional journalists and contributors spread across Nigeria and overseas, NEWS EXPRESS has become synonymous with newsbreaks and exclusive stories from around the world.
Central African Republic authorities have ordered an artisanal gold mine near the Cameroonian border to be closed after the mines minister said 49 people had died there in a deadly collapse.
Mines Minister Rufin Beltoungou said the government would formally suspend activity at the site in Zamboye until further notice following the disaster on Tuesday.
Beltoungou said the dead were of 35 Central Africans, 12 Cameroonians and two Chadians.
A senior official at a local mining association had said on Wednesday that more than 100 people had been killed.
A prosecutor said rescue efforts were continuing, and said the number of casualties was still being established.
Artisanal mining is a vital source of work and income across Africa, but informal operations often function with limited oversight, inadequate safety measures and little emergency capacity, making collapses and other fatal accidents frequent.
Cameroon has pledged to formalise parts of the sector, seeking to improve regulation, safety and tax collection. (Reuters/NAN)
•A still from a video taken of a collapse of a gold mine in the Central African Republic on August 20 2026 (photo credit: SCREENSHOT/X)
