KABUL, Afghanistan — A gold mine collapse in the northeastern province of Badakhshan left one worker dead, local Taliban officials said.
The incident occurred in the village of Gulistan in the Yaftal Payan district, according to the Taliban’s police command in Badakhshan.
Taliban officials said three workers were trapped under the rubble. One died, while two others were rescued with the help of local residents.
The collapse is the latest in a series of accidents linked to unregulated and unsafe mining practices in the region. Similar incidents in Badakhshan have previously claimed the lives of workers, raising concerns about the dangers of unlicensed mining operations.
In 2024, several mine collapses across the country resulted in multiple fatalities.
In September, a landslide at a gold mine in Badakhshan killed at least three miners. The following month, another gold mine collapse in the same province claimed three more lives. In December, a coal mine disaster in Samangan trapped 35 workers, though the full casualty count remained unclear. With limited oversight and poor safety standards, mining accidents continue to pose a significant risk to workers in Afghanistan’s resource-rich but fragile economy.
