Air Strike Tied to Egypt Kills 72 at Sudan Gold Mining Site

An air strike attributed to the Egyptian military killed at least 72 gold miners at a site near Jabal Al-Aigdat, in Sudan's Red Sea region, on October 10, according to a rights monitor cited by Al Jazeera. Among the dead was Altayeb Alhadi, 16, who had worked the site for a few months after traveling hundreds of kilometers from his home village in White Nile state to dig for gold, his uncle, Alhadi Hamid, told the outlet.

The strike hit mid-shift. A fellow miner, speaking to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, said the group had separated "less than 30 minutes" before the bombardment began. "We suddenly heard a loud sound of bombardment, and we ran," the miner said. "It was too chaotic with people running in all directions and many attacks taking place within a few minutes."

How much can a miner earn at a Sudanese gold site?

Earnings swing with each haul. Altayeb's crew of roughly 15 young men and children could clear more than $100 on a productive day, split according to individual agreements among the group, the fellow miner told Al Jazeera. The payout depended on how much gold the crew pulled from the rock before hauling it to a nearby mill for processing. "We used to dig for two to three weeks until we found a gram or less," the miner said, describing weeks of labor for a single gram of raw material.

Why did a 16-year-old end up underground?

Altayeb became head of his household at age six, after his father died when a well collapsed in Galli village and his mother died two months later, leaving five siblings orphaned, Hamid told Al Jazeera. At 14 he left home for Sudan's northern gold belt, first taking transport work before moving underground once he heard "lucrative stories from miners in the area," Hamid said. He added that other relatives in the region had stuck to safer jobs: "Some relatives were already working in the area although they had found jobs in restaurants and other services rather than underground extraction." Hamid said the family "warned him about the dangers, but he was ambitious."

What happened to Altayeb after the strike?

The fellow miner said rescuers found Altayeb with his hand and leg severed and a severe abdominal injury. "We tried to help him and took him to a safer place near a mountain. We were terrified," the miner said. "He died within hours. … We couldn't believe how quickly things could happen." Al Jazeera's account does not say how many of the roughly 15 workers in Altayeb's immediate group survived.

What does the strike mean for Sudan's mining towns?

Artisanal gold mining has become, in Al Jazeera's reporting, "a vital source of income for thousands of Sudanese" as the broader war idles other livelihoods, pushing workers — including children as young as Altayeb — toward sites that offer little protection. The October 10 strike near Jabal Al-Aigdat adds to a run of reported attacks on mining sites along the Egypt-Sudan border that Al Jazeera has tracked in recent coverage. The outlet's dispatch does not indicate whether authorities have opened an investigation into the strike or confirmed a final death toll beyond the 72 figure attributed to the rights monitor.