BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Hopes of finding survivors at a collapsed gold mine in Central African Republic were fading Thursday, two days after the disaster killed more than 100 people and left others buried under debris.

Rescuers continued recovering bodies from the artisanal mining site in Zamboye, near the border with Cameroon, but local workers said that the response lacked the equipment and expertise needed for a disaster of this scale.

“The rescue effort is being organized, but it is not up to the task,” said Jérémie Ngbiri, a miner at the site who lost his brother and a friend in the collapse.

Death toll expected to rise

Ngbiri said that he saw some victims suffocate as people tried to rescue them.

The local Red Cross was helping with the search, but couldn't say how many people remained buried, volunteer Gervais Ganagoro said.

“We continue to find bodies,” he said, adding that more than 10 were recovered on Thursday morning alone. “Every hour, bodies are being discovered, increasing the number of victims.”

Local officials and the Red Cross said Wednesday that more than 100 people had died in the collapse and warned the toll was likely to rise.

Investigation underway over why tunnels collapsed

The Baboua subprefecture court said in a statement that several underground tunnels in which the miners were working had collapsed, causing a landslide.

An investigation has been opened to determine why the tunnels collapsed, identify the victims and those responsible for operating the site, as well as establish any potential criminal liability, the statement said.

Mines Minister Rufin Benam Beltoungou expressed condolences to victims’ families and warned miners about the dangers of unsafe mining practices, according to a statement posted by the ministry.

Gold mining expands despite safety risks

Artisanal mine collapses are common in Central African Republic, where thousands of people work in small-scale mining, often with little protection. Pits are frequently dug by hand and can reach several meters deep.

“Safety conditions are not ensured at these sites,” said Chekoua Justin Landry, a program manager with Forests and Rural Development, a Cameroonian nonprofit group that works on natural-resource governance and rural communities. “The walls of these pits are not stabilized, and with the rains, landslides can happen easily.”

Abdon Adamou, the mayor of Garoua-Boulai, a Cameroonian town near the mining site, said that heavy rainfall had weakened the soils in the area.

Four Cameroonians and two Chadians were among the dead, Adamou told The Associated Press. He said that he's working with Central African authorities to repatriate injured Cameroonians and the bodies of those killed in the collapse.

Hamadou Abba, 50, said that his 32-year-old nephew, Doudou Marcel, was among the Cameroonian miners killed in the collapse.

Marcel, a father of two, had worked at the Zamboye mining site for about five years after leaving school and unsuccessfully trying to join the public service, he said.

“At first, I didn’t believe he was dead, and had to call other contacts to confirm,” Abba said. “His corpse and his friend’s who also died in the incident were brought back the same day,” he added.

Marcel’s body was buried Wednesday at the family compound in eastern Cameroon, Abba said.

Researchers and local media reported earlier this year on unsafe and unregulated mining associated with a rapidly expanding gold rush around Zamboye.

“Artisanal mining has been practiced there for decades, passed down from one generation to the next,” Landry said. “But with the arrival of mechanization, gold mining expanded considerably, bringing major environmental damage as well as accidents in mining pits,” he added.

A 2025 report by U.N. experts documented illicit mining in the area, including the involvement of armed groups and the use of extraction methods that posed health and environmental risks.

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Nalova Akua reported from Yaoundé, Cameroon. Emmanuel Tumanjong and Ngala Killian Chimtom also contributed to this report from Yaoundé.