BAMAKO: A landslide at a gold mine in southern Mali has killed around 10 people and left many others missing, most of them women, authorities said on Thursday.

Mali, which is among the world´s poorest countries, is one of Africa´s leading gold producers.

Gold mining sites are regularly the scene of deadly landslides and authorities struggle to control artisanal mining of the precious metal.

The accident happened on Wednesday in the village of Danga, where “a landslide trapped a group of gold miners, the majority of whom were women”, the governorate of the Koulikoro region said in a Facebook post.