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Dozens of miners feared dead after floods in Tanzania

More than 80 miners are feared dead after floods swept pits in northern Tanzania on Saturday, a survivor and police said.

Rescue operations were hampered by lack of equipment at the Mirerani Tanzanite gemstone mines near the northern city of Arusha, around 450km north of the capital Dar es Salaam.

"It started raining at two o'clock in the morning. We struggled and I managed to get out at three o'clock," said one surviving miner, Elia Fanuel.

"I know there is no hope of finding anybody alive. We will just look for the bodies to give them a decent burial," he said.

It was unclear if there were more survivors.

Police said six bodies had been recovered while mine owners said there were 87 people underground when the disaster struck.

"We have so far received six bodies and we are still searching for others," said the official, who was at the scene but declined to be identified.

"The owners of the pits said 87 were underground at the time of the floods," he said.

"We have the reports of the missing miners and rescuers have been rushed to the scene," Manyara regional commissioner Henry Shekifu said.

"There have been heavy rains for the last seven days in the area. Similar cases occurred in the past, but this is worse because it involves a lot of people," he said.

Miners heading back to Arusha from the Mirerani and neighboring pits said they feared their colleagues were dead.

Torrential rains hampered communications in the region as well as the rescue operation, with many vehicles involved in the effort stranded several kilometers from the site of the disaster.

A lack of equipment also impeded the rescue operation.

"The [search] operation will continue but mining activity has been suspended," said Khalid Mandia, the district chief.

Tanzanite, a shining purple-blue stone, has been found only in northern Tanzania and in 2005 a leading gemstone miner said it unearthed the world's largest tanzanite stone weighing about 3kg.

The lure of striking it rich has drawn thousands of miners to Mirerani, which resembles a gold-rush town dotted with brothels, bars and hardware stores supplying the miners.

Tanzanite is believed to be limited to east Africa's Rift Valley region and the pits where the flooding accident happened are located in the heart of Maasai land, a short distance from Mount Kilimanjaro.

The gemstone was discovered by Maasai tribesmen in 1967.
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