Police say 10 people are dead and an unknown number are missing after a mine collapse in Zambia

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — At least 10 people died and an unknown number are missing after a mine collapsed in central Zambia, police said Monday.

Authorities said rescue operations were underway and it wasn’t clear exactly how many miners were underground. The collapse occurred in the district of Mumbwa, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) west of the capital, Lusaka. No cause was immediately given for the collapse.

Nine bodies were recovered from the site and a tenth person died in a hospital, said Charity Munganga Chanda, police commissioner for the Central Province. Five were injured and being treated in the hospital.

Collins Nzovu, a government minister and the local member of Parliament, said 20 miners were missing and feared dead, although police didn’t confirm that number.

The miners are suspected of being informal ones, which is common in the southern African country.

Dozens of informal miners died last year in Zambia when they were buried by landslides while working in an open-pit copper mine in the town of Chingola near the northern border with Congo.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa