Four prospectors who were digging for gold in Cambodia’s central province of Kampong Thom were killed when earth collapsed into the pit where they were mining, a Cambodian government official and a fellow villager said on Friday.
Cambodian Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith on Facebook quoted reports from a local official as saying that the four men who died had been hired by a couple who own the mine in the rural jungle village of Snong An.
The incident occurred on Thursday morning as the men were digging, said Ven Srey Tith, a resident living near the site.
Photo: AFP
Speaking by telephone from her home, she said the pit was only a little more than 2m deep, but mounds of excavated earth collapsed into it without warning and no one was nearby to see the men’s plight.
Their bodies were retrieved the same day and sent to their families for religious rites.
Mining without a license is illegal, and Ven Srey Tith said the authorities had told villagers a long time ago that they are not allowed to mine gold there.
POVERTY
Some villagers pleaded to be allowed to dig for gold because they are poor and need the income, she said, adding that most villagers farm for a living.
Despite the official ban, mining has been practiced near the village since 2012, and there had not been any major incidents until now, she said.
Other miners stopped digging on Friday, at least temporarily, after hearing of the incident, she said.
Illegal gold mining on a small scale is often tolerated, while licensed industrial mining for gold is carried out by a handful of companies, including from Australia, China, Vietnam and India.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
CHEER ON: Students were greeted by citizens who honked their car horns or offered them food and drinks, while taxi drivers said they would give marchers a lift home Hundreds of students protesting graft they blame for 15 deaths in a building collapse on Friday marched through Serbia to the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to block three Danube River bridges this weekend. They received a hero’s welcome from fellow students and thousands of local residents in Novi Said after arriving on foot in their two-day, 80km journey from Belgrade. A small red carpet was placed on one of the bridges across the Danube that the students crossed as they entered the city. The bridge blockade planned for yesterday is to mark three months since a huge concrete construction
RSS