Chingola

Chingola District Commissioner Raphael Chumupi said at least 36 miners were buried in three separate tunnels while they were digging for copper ore illegally at the Seseli mine without the knowledge of the mine owner.

Rescuers have been searching for the miners since early Friday after they were buried Thursday night while digging tunnels at an open-pit mine near the city of Chingola on the country’s copper belt.

Neither police nor government officials could say exactly how many miners were trapped in the tunnels, but Chingola District Commissioner Raphael Chumupi told The Associated Press that there were at least 36.

Illegal artisanal mining is common in Chingola, where the open pits are surrounded by huge waste dumps made up of rock and earth that has been dug out of the mines.

“We are saddened to hear about the tragic accident at a makeshift mine site in Chingola that has claimed many lives,” Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said in a post on his official Facebook page.