Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

8 March 2000 – Koidu Area, Sierra Leone

About 150 former rebel fighters were buried alive when the clandestine diamond mine they were working in collapsed, according to a newspaper report yesterday. However, the rebel Revolutionary United Front denied any such accident had occurred, and insisted that none of its fighters were involved in diamond mining.

The accident allegedly occurred late Sunday night (March 5) at a sandy,open-pit mine near the eastern Sierra Leone mining town of Koidu, about 220 miles north-east of the capital Freetown, according to the daily Concorde Times. A rescue attempt was launched early the next morning but only a few people were saved, according to the report.