At least ten dead in Zambia mine collapse

At least 10 people have died and an unknown number are missing after a mine collapsed in central Zambia.

Authorities on Monday said rescue operations were under way and it wasn't clear exactly how many miners were underground.

The collapse occurred in the district of Mumbwa, about 150km west of the capital, Lusaka.

No cause was immediately given for the collapse.

Nine bodies were recovered from the site and a tenth person died in a hospital, said Charity Munganga Chanda, police commissioner for the Central Province. Five were injured and being treated in hospital.

Collins Nzovu, a government minister and the local member of Parliament, said 20 miners were missing and feared dead, although police didn't confirm that number.

The miners are suspected of being informal ones, which is common in the southern African country.

Dozens of informal miners died in 2023 in Zambia when they were buried by landslides while working in an open-pit copper mine in the town of Chingola near the northern border with Congo.