Rescuers brought an excavator to the remote Indonesian gold mine that collapsed earlier this week, trapping dozens, hoping to speed up rescue efforts despite the risk of triggering landslides.
The death toll has risen to eight and 20 have been rescued, local disaster official Abdul Muin Paputungan said Friday. About three dozen people are still believed trapped in the rubble of the unlicensed mine in North Sulawesi's Bolaang Mongondow district that collapsed on Tuesday evening.
Food and water has been passed to some of those trapped but officials are concerned oxygen is dwindling in parts of the mine. Rescue workers have used makeshift stretchers to haul victims to a nearby settlement. A rescuer who amputated the leg of miner Teddy Mokodompit said he and his team crawled 12 metres into the mine to operate, Kompas newspaper reported. The stuffy air was difficult to breath and the tunnel they were in vibrated, with soil and gravel falling on them, Laiya, who uses one name, told the newspaper.
"The process to rescue only one person takes the whole day," said Amin Simbala, father of a buried miner. "Don't be concerned by this one person only, just get him out, if you need to amputate then amputate so others can still be saved."
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