A Gold Pit Collapsed in Central Africa and Killed Miners From Three Countries
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC · MINING
Key Facts
- —What happened A gold pit collapse at Zamboye in the Central African Republic killed 49 people, the mines minister says.
- —How big a jump At least 14 of the dead were migrant workers from Cameroon and Chad at the informal site.
- —The real story The toll is disputed, with a Red Cross volunteer and a Cameroon mayor reporting over 100 dead.
- —The catch No official register exists; bodies are recovered by relatives, and the death count may rise.
- —What comes next The minister halted mining at Zamboye, and a prosecutor is investigating the collapse.
- —Why it mattered Artisanal gold draws cross-border labour into pits with no engineering, shoring or safety records.
The Central African Republic has ordered mining to stop at the Zamboye gold site after a pit collapse that its mines minister says killed 49 people. On the breakdown he gave, twelve of the dead were Cameroonian and two were Chadian, a reminder that the region’s gold is dug by labour that crosses borders as freely as the metal does.
What is known about the Central African Republic collapse
The pit gave way at Zamboye, in the prefecture of Nana-Mambéré in the west of the country, on Tuesday 18 August. The site sits about 50km from Baboua and close to the Cameroonian frontier.
Mines Minister Rufin Benam Beltoungou put the death toll at 49 in an interview with the independent broadcaster Radio Ndeke Luka. He visited the site the following day.
The nationality breakdown he gave, as carried by Reuters, is 35 Central Africans, twelve Cameroonians and two Chadians. Other outlets have reported slightly different splits from the same briefing, and one version sums to 50 rather than 49.
The time of day is also unsettled, with French-language reports citing the early afternoon and English-language wires saying morning. Neither has been confirmed.
Why the death toll is disputed
A significantly higher figure has circulated since the first day and it has not gone away. A Red Cross volunteer working on the recovery, a member of the local youth council, and the mayor of Garoua-Boulaï across the border in Cameroon have all put the dead above 100.
The mayor’s figure is 107. Several international outlets were still leading with more than 100 on 21 August, without carrying the minister’s 49 at all.
The prosecutor handling the case has said the casualty count is still being established, which is the most defensible position available. Bodies at artisanal sites are often recovered over days by relatives rather than by any authority.
This article leads with the minister’s figure because it is the only one from the ministry responsible for the sector. Readers should hold it loosely.
The labour that crosses the border to dig
The nationalities are the part of this story that travels furthest. Fourteen of the dead were not Central African, and they had come from Cameroon and Chad to work an informal pit.
That is not incidental. Artisanal gold across the Central African region draws seasonal and migrant labour across frontiers that exist on maps more than on the ground.
The work is done without engineering, without shoring, and usually without any record that a person was ever there. When a pit collapses there is frequently no employer to name and no register of who was underground.
It is also how a large share of the region’s gold reaches the market. Informal production feeds trading networks that eventually deliver metal to refiners with formal compliance obligations.
What the suspension actually does
The minister ordered work at Zamboye halted immediately during his visit on 19 August, and the government says the suspension will run until further notice. No decree number or published ministerial text has surfaced.
The prosecutor at Baboua has opened an investigation covering the cause of the collapse, identification of the victims, who was operating the site and whether there is criminal liability.
Site suspensions after fatal accidents are common across the region and are rarely permanent. Whether this one holds will depend on enforcement capacity that the state has historically lacked in its western prefectures.
Cameroon has separately said it intends to formalise parts of its own artisanal sector. That is the more consequential policy response, and it is at the level of intention.
A pattern rather than an accident
This is at least the fourth fatal collapse recorded in the country this year. Twenty people died at Gordi in the north-east in February, seven at Ngourroum near Bozoum in March, and a larger number at Bé-Mbari in May.
Reported tolls for Bé-Mbari range from at least 23 to around sixty, and several accounts have wrongly placed it in June. It happened in May.
Four fatal collapses in eight months is not a run of bad luck. It describes an extractive economy operating with no engineering standard and no effective inspection.
Gold prices near record levels are pulling more people into these pits, not fewer. The economics point in exactly the wrong direction for safety.
Why this reaches buyers a long way away
Anyone refining, banking or buying gold has due-diligence obligations that reach back through the supply chain. Metal from Central African artisanal sites is among the hardest in the world to trace.
That difficulty is not abstract. It is a pit with no operator of record, worked by people from three countries, in a prefecture where the state’s writ is thin.
There is no suggestion that any particular company sourced from Zamboye, and none has been named. The relevance is to the class of risk rather than to any firm.
It is also the human cost that sits underneath a compliance question. Forty-nine people, or perhaps more than a hundred, went to work at a hole in the ground and did not come back.
How many people died in the Central African Republic mine collapse?
Mines Minister Rufin Benam Beltoungou put the toll at 49. A Red Cross volunteer, a local youth council member and the mayor of Garoua-Boulaï in Cameroon have all reported more than 100, and a prosecutor said the count was still being established.
Where did the collapse happen?
At an artisanal gold site at Zamboye, in the prefecture of Nana-Mambéré in the west of the country, about 50km from Baboua and close to the Cameroonian border. It occurred on Tuesday 18 August 2026.
Has the site been closed?
Yes. The mines minister visited on 19 August and ordered work to stop immediately, and the government says the suspension will run until further notice.
Have there been other mining accidents in the country this year?
Yes. Twenty people died at Gordi in February, seven at Ngourroum in March, and a larger number at Bé-Mbari in May, with reported tolls there ranging from at least 23 to around sixty.
Connected Coverage
Artisanal mining deaths recur across the continent’s gold belts, as we reported after a collapse at Uganda’s Namayingo site killed six, and the push to formalise and add value to African minerals framed the SADC summit in Durban. More in our key topic, Africa: The New Scramble, and on our Central Africa page.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief