26 October 2016•Update: 26 October 2016
By Ainur Rohmah
TUBAN, Indonesia
Rescue teams were searching Wednesday for 11 people who were trapped underground while illegally mining for gold in western Indonesia.
National Search and Rescue Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told Anadolu Agency that the miners had been digging illegally in Merangin district in Jambi province on Tuesday afternoon when the area was hit by heavy rains.
"The water and mud swept into the pit so that the 11 miners were trapped in it," he added.
Search and rescue teams and members of the local community have been trying to remove water and mud to pull out the miners, with efforts hampered due to the depth of the pit.
"The scene is also quite far from settlements so accessibility is very difficult," Nugroho said.
Indonesia is rich in mineral resources -- such as nickel, tin and gold -- and home to pervasive mining operations, both legal and illegal.
The country, however, witnesses several incidents each year in which those mining illegally are trapped in pits.
In April, four illegal gold miners died after being buried at a site operated by the PT Antam company in Bogor city in West Java province.
In October last year, 12 miners had been killed after being trapped at the same mine.
