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65 Feared Dead in Tanzania Mine

Six recovered, 59 missing as flash floods combine with downed power lines

By Kate Rockwood, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 30, 2008 11:15 AM CDT

(Newser) – Rescuers now fear that 65 miners trapped in a northern Tanzanian mine shaft have drowned, reports Reuters, with six bodies recovered and 59 workers missing. Volunteers raced to the remote gemstone mine near Mount Kilimanjaro yesterday when flash floods swept through the area, but the torrential weather also brought down electricity poles, crippling rescue efforts. In the eight affected pits, 35 people were found alive.

The violet-blue gemstone tanzanite can only be found in Mererani, the city where the mines are located, and mining accidents and unsafe conditions are relatively common in the area. Blistering seasonal rains have swept through much of East Africa this week, isolating remote villages, flooding city slums, and damaging crops. Six people have also died in Kenya flooding and a schoolboy drowned in Uganda.

[Images (4)]

[Videos (2)]

President Bush greets students as he tours the Maasai Girls School in Arusha, a city just north of the mining accident. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

A group of miners wait for news of their colleagues missing in tanzanite mines following heavy rains , Sunday, March 30, 2008 at Mererani some 40 kilometers southeast of Arusha, Tanzania. (AP Photo/Paul Sarawatt)

Map locates Mererani, Tanzania where dozens may have died in flooded mines. (AP Photo)

Tanzanite is a gemstone that can only be found in Mererani. (Flickr)

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Gem Slaves: Tanzanite's child labour - Part - 1 (OneWorldTV (YouTube))

Gem Slaves: Tanzanite's child labour - Part - 2 (OneWorldTV (YouTube))

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65 Feared Dead in Tanzania Mine