- Philippines challenges China over South China Sea at ASEAN meet
- Mets advance on Lindor blast, Dodgers stay alive in MLB playoffs
- Injury-ravaged Krygios aiming to return at Australian Open
- Greek international Baldock, dead at 31: family
- EU talks deportation hubs to stem migration
- Deaths and repression sideline Suu Kyi's party ahead of Myanmar vote
- S. Africa offers a lesson on how not to shut down a coal plant
- China opens $71 bn 'swap facility' to boost markets
- Mets advance on Lindor grand slam, Yankees and Tigers win
- Taiwan President Lai vows to 'resist annexation' of island
- China's solar goes from supremacy to oversupply
- Asian markets track Wall St record as Hong Kong, Shanghai stabilise
- 'Denying my potential': women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance
- China's central bank says opens up $70.6 bn in liquidity to boost market
- Zelensky on whirlwind tour of Europe ahead of US vote
- Youth facing unprecedented wave of violence, UN envoy warns
- 'A casino in every kitchen': Brazil's online gambling craze
- Nobel chemistry winner sees engineered proteins solving tough problems
- Lindor powers Mets past Phillies into NL Championship Series
- Wildlife populations plunge 73% since 1970: WWF
- 'Sleeper agent' bots on X fuel US election misinformation, study says
- Death toll rises to 109 after Haiti gang attack, official says
- Tigers beat Guardians and on brink of advancing in MLB playoffs
- Argentina MPs back Milei's veto of university funding
- Man City sink Barca in Women's Champions League as Bayern outgun Arsenal
- Greek international Baldock, 31, found dead in pool: state agency
- Florida seaside haven a ghost town as hurricane nears
- Pharrell Williams to co-chair Met Gala exploring Black dandyism
- Wall Street indices hit fresh records as Chinese shares tumble
- Taiwan's president to deliver key speech for National Day
- Sea row on the menu as ASEAN leaders meet China's Li
- Injured Kane won't start England's Nations League clash with Greece
- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Mozambique starts tallying votes in tense election
- Zelensky moves to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- Rodgers rejects 'false' suggestions of role in Saleh dismissal
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Lebanon facing 'catastrophic' situation as 600,000 displaced: UN
- US warns Israel not to repeat Gaza destruction in Lebanon
- Musk's X returns in Brazil after 40-day showdown with judge
- Call her savvy? Harris unleashes unconventional media blitz
- Lucian Freud 'masterpiece' fetches £13.9 million at London sale
- SoFi Stadium to hold next two CONCACAF Nations League finals
- McIlroy and DeChambeau set for PGA-LIV 'Showdown' in Vegas
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Run blitz edges India and South Africa closer to World Cup semi-finals
Two dozen dead in Venezuela illegal mine collapse
About two dozen people died when an illegal gold mine collapsed in the jungles of southern Venezuela, officials said Wednesday as the search continued for survivors.
The incident happened Tuesday at the "Bulla loca" mine in the state of Bolivar, a seven-hour boat ride from the nearest town, La Paragua, where family members waited anxiously for news.
Yorgi Arciniega, mayor of the Angostura municipality, told AFP late Wednesday that about 23 bodies had been recovered, including 15 that had arrived by boat in La Paragua and about another eight on their way.
Deputy Minister of civil protection Carlos Perez Ampueda published a video of the incident on X, and referred to "a massive" toll, though providing no numbers. Some 200 people were thought to have been working in the mine, according to officials.
The video showed dozens of people working in the shallow waters of an open pit mine when a wall of earth slowly collapses upon them. Some managed to flee while others were engulfed.
Mayor Arciniega, who had earlier spoken of 15 people injured, said four had been brought by boat to La Paragua by Wednesday afternoon to receive treatment.
The Bolivar state's secretary of citizen security, Edgar Colina Reyes, said the injured were being transported to a hospital in the regional capital Ciudad Bolivar, four hours from La Paragua, which lies 750 kilometers (460 miles) southeast of the capital Caracas.
Desolate relatives waited on the shores for news of their breadwinners.
"My brother, my brother, my brother," cried one as he saw a body being taken off a boat.
"We ask that they support us with helicopters to remove the injured," a woman waiting for news on her brother-in-law -- a father of three -- told AFP.
- 'Bound to happen' -
Reyes said the military, firefighters and other organizations were "moving to the area by air" to evaluate the situation.
Rescue teams were also being flown in from Caracas to aid in the search.
"We are evaluating the damage and doing a rescue analysis," added Ampueda.
In December last year, at least 12 people were killed when a mine in the Indigenous community of Ikabaru, in the same region, collapsed.
The Bolivar region is rich in gold, diamonds, iron, bauxite, quartz and coltan. Aside from state mines, there is also a booming industry of illegal extraction.
"This was bound to happen," resident Robinson Basanta told AFP of the unsafe working conditions of the miners, most of whom live in extreme poverty.
"This mine has yielded a lot of gold... People go there out of necessity, to make ends meet," he said.
Activists denounce "ecocide" in the area and the exploitation of children who work long hours without protection.
In the past year, the Venezuelan Armed Forces have evicted some 14,000 illegal miners from the Yapacana National Park in the neighboring state of Amazonas.
L.Durand--AMWN