5 illegal gold miners trapped after ground collapsed in central Zambia

Five illegal miners were trapped in a gold mine in Zambia's Central Province after the ground collapsed on them while they were mining, a senior official said on Thursday.

Authorities announced that rescue efforts had begun on Wednesday, one day after the incident, with the opening of the first tunnel at the Qon site, though no victims had yet been found.

"They have opened the first tunnel and did not find any person," Central Province Permanent Secretary Milner Mwanakampwe told reporters in Kabwe, the provincial capital, on Thursday.

He said the search would continue and that the government would make every effort to rescue the trapped miners.

"The government has (since) constituted a committee of permanent secretaries to look into the rescue operations of the trapped miners," he said.

The committee was made up of the green economy, home affairs, and health ministries, as well as the nation's Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit.