Landslide kills 12 women at illegal gold mine in Indonesia

MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers have retrieved a dozen bodies of women buried under tons of mud from a landslide that crashed onto an unauthorized gold mining operation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island. Police on Friday say about 14 women were looking for gold grains in a 6.5-foot-deep pit at a small and unauthorized traditional gold mine Thursday when a landslide plunged down the surrounding hills and buried them. The mine pit was in a remote village of North Sumatra’s Mandailing Natal district. A two-hour search and rescue unearthed two injured women and recovered the bodies of 12 others. Informal mining operations are commonplace in Indonesia, providing a tenuous livelihood to thousands who labor in conditions with a high risk of serious injury or death.