Carbon Monoxide Leak Leaves 37 Miners Dead in Nigeria
The disaster unfolded Wednesday morning near the town of Wase, where toxic gas is believed to have silently accumulated in underground tunnels, incapacitating workers in the final hours of their night shift before help could reach them.
Safiyanu Haruna, a miner who arrived to find the bodies at the start of his own shift, told media: "There was no rescue for them at the time because those who were coming for the morning shift had yet to arrive."
The confirmed death toll remains contested. Local officials and residents have reported at least 30 fatalities, while police sources cited by media place the figure at 37. The Plateau State government said preliminary findings indicated roughly 33 workers were inside the tunnel at the time of the incident.
"Sadly, many lives are feared lost, while others who sustained injuries are currently receiving treatment in nearby hospitals," the local government said in a statement.
Nigeria's minister of solid minerals development, Dele Alake, swiftly ordered the mine — operated by Solid Unit Nigeria Limited — shuttered pending investigation. The minister disclosed that the site had previously been abandoned. "The area was an abandoned lead site with the stored mineral prone to emissions of sulphuric oxide," he said in a Wednesday statement, adding that the company had ceded the pit to local villagers "following agitations by villagers for empowerment."
Alake confirmed that a multidisciplinary team of investigators spanning mining, environmental compliance, and artisanal cooperative expertise has been deployed "to probe the remote and immediate causes of the incident and recommend sanctions."
Wednesday's tragedy is far from an isolated event. Nigeria's largely unregulated artisanal mining sector has seen a string of fatal disasters in recent years — a pit collapse in Niger State claimed lives in June 2024, and more than 100 people were feared dead after a gold mine cave-in in Zamfara State in 2023. Experts consistently point to hazardous underground conditions and chronic regulatory failure as the driving forces behind the recurring loss of life.
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