ACCRA – At least 32 artisanal miners are feared dead in Ghana after the gold mine they were working in collapsed due to heavy rain, a local official said on Tuesday.

The accident took place in Dunkwa Akyempim in central Ghana on Sunday but rescue efforts have been hampered by flooding of the mine.

"Now, we can definitely say not less than 32 bodies are in there," municipality chief Peter Owusu-Ashia said, adding that the chances of finding survivors were "extremely" slim.

Owusu-Ashia said rescue teams hoped to retrieve the bodies by the end of Tuesday.

"We have two excavators working now after which we hope to pump out the water to an appreciable level to enable divers to get to the bottom of the pit," he said.

Experts from Anglogold Ashanti's Obuasi mine and the Mines Ministry were taking part in the rescue efforts, he said.

The pit was an abandoned mine and the miners were working in informal gangs of around five men each. Artisanal mining is common across west and central Africa, a region of low formal employment but with abundant natural resources.

Source: Reuters