Tarakan, N Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Five gold miners were found in a lifeless condition at an illegal mining site in Bulungan District, North Kalimantan Province, on Monday night.
"Bodies of the three gold miners, found on Monday night (Oct 19), were then taken to the Sekatak public health service post. They died due to a landslide covering the hole of the Nipah-Nipah block in Sekatak Village," Chief of the Public Relations Service of the North Kalimantan Provincial Police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Budi Rachmat noted in a brief text message received on Tuesday.
The five bodies, identified as iArfa, Ichsan, Muhamad Fuad, Yusuf Acco Tappi, and Suryadi, were taken to the public health service post for post-mortem before their mortal remains were flown to their hometown in South Sulawesi Province for burial.
"The process of retrieving the bodies from the hole ran smoothly," Rachmat remarked.
The tragedy is the latest in a series of gold mining accidents that claimed the lives of people.
In June 2020, six people lost their lives, while several others sustained injuries after a landslide struck a gold mine at Gunung Putri, the peak of the Meratus mountain range in Sungai Durian Sub-district in Kotabaru, South Kalimantan.
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