Pope prays for victims of mining disaster in CAR

Pope Leo XIV offered prayers on Sunday for the victims of a deadly mining accident in the Central African Republic.

“I am also close to the people of the Central African Republic,” the pontiff said, “who are mourning the victims of the collapse that occurred at a mine in Zamboyé.”

“May the Lord receive those who lost their lives,” Leo said, “and sustain efforts to ensure safety and legality at mining sites.”

Leo made his appeal in remarks following the Angelus prayer.

Over 100 people perished in the August 18 incident, when a landslide struck an open-pit gold mine in Zamboyé.

The government of the CAR closed the site on Saturday, citing non-compliance with regulatory procedures.

Hundreds of artisanal gold miners had been working the Zamboyé site, located in the western Nana-Mambéré Prefecture of the CAR, near the Cameroon border town of Garoua -Boulai.

The Mayor of Garoua-Boualai, Abdon Adamou, told Crux Now the soil excavated to reach the gold-bearing gravel had gradually accumulated to form ‘a huge mountain’ of mud, from which artisanal gold miners in turn came to extract small quantities of gold.

“As it has been raining heavily over the last few days,” the mayor said,