Environmental groups write to the world's richest man, Elon Musk, flagging concerns over possible investments in Indonesia's nickel mining industry amid soaring demand for the resource for its use in electric vehicles.
Keisyah Aprilia/BenarNews
Risna recounted scrambling to save herself when dirt and rocks came tumbling into a 49-foot deep pit where she and other residents were mining for gold in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province on Feb. 24.
Seven people were killed and dozens more survived that landslide at the illegal mining site in Buranga, a village in Parigi Moutong regency, rescue officials had said.
“We the panners scrambled. Some managed to climb to the top but some were buried,” Risna, a 36-year-old woman who goes by one name, told BenarNews.
The deadly accident underscores the dangers of small-scale mining activities for gold and other metals at more than 8,600 sites across the Indonesian archipelago, where dozens of people die every year, mostly during landslides, according to officials.