At least seven illegal gold panners have died in the past week just over Zimbabwe’s border with Mozambique after heavy rains brought chaos to the area, reports from eastern Zimbabwe said on Friday.
There are fears the casualty figure could be much higher.
Hospitals in Zimbabwe’s Chimanimani and Chipinge districts are preparing themselves for an influx of bodies amid fears that up to 50 gold panners may have died, according to one newspaper.
”People are dying and there were bodies everywhere,” Ananias Mupondi, an illegal panner, told the official Manica Post on his return to Chimanimani.
Heavy rains beginning last Friday have brought chaos to Zimbabwe’s border with Mozambique, flooding caves where illegal panners stay and swelling rivers.
Some of the dead are believed to have been swept away by the rivers while others may have died of malaria and pneumonia, said the Manica Post, which is published in the city of Mutare.
”While the actual number of deaths could not be immediately established, unconfirmed reports say more than 50 people could have died in the past week,” the paper said.
It said thousands of ”frail” gold panners have been trickling back into Zimbabwe this week.
”The situation in Mozambique is serious and panners are dying in large numbers,” said gold digger Norman Sundiwa from Mutare.
”As we were coming I witnessed six deaths and we buried one in a cave,” Sundiwa added.
Despite the dangers, illegal gold panners have been flooding to an area in Mozambique just 50km from the Zimbabwe border where a rich gold belt is reported to have been discovered. – Sapa-DPA