More than 20 artisanal miners are stranded in a cave in a rural village in northern Ethiopia, and rescue operations are in progress.
Three days have passed since the miners in the Delanta district were crushed by a narrow cave. The precise number of stranded miners, who were searching for valuable opal gemstones, is unknown to local officials.
The BBC has been informed by local authorities that the area’s rugged terrain has made rescue operations more difficult.
Since the miners can’t gain assistance from machinery due to the village’s topography, hundreds of residents are attempting to dig openings for them.
Although there have been no successful rescue efforts to date, the officials are still optimistic about finding survivors.
According to the officials, a miner who had been buried for seven days inside the cave was discovered alive in a prior occurrence.
Tesfaye Agazh of Ethiopia’s Delanta district says, “We, the residents, have been working on shifts, day and night, for the past few days to remove the rocks, but it is very hard.”
He is one of the hundreds of people who are working hard to release the more than twenty miners who were stuck in a cave three days ago while searching for opals.
Mr. Tesfaye told the BBC, “Days on, there is still a lot to dig and it doesn’t seem like we are getting any closer. “We are hoping we will get survivors but we know it is a mere chance.
“We are not stopping until we find them whether alive or dead.”
