A natural gas explosion on Wednesday is reported to have killed as many as 25 people in a gold mine in eastern Guinea.
A police source confirmed to Reuters that 14 bodies have already been recovered at a remote mine in Siguiri province, 500 miles northeast of the capital, Conakry.
“The walls of the mine are too narrow and it’s impossible to survive this kind of accident,” said the unnamed source.
The death toll is yet to be confirmed, but 25 miners were believed to be in the pit at the time of the explosion.
The West African country boasts one of the biggest gold reserves in the region. Artisanal mining is extremely dangerous and in July four people died in a similar incident in mineral-rich Guinea.
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