Indonesia mine collapse: Up to 100 may be trapped, officials say, as voices no longer being heard

Rescuers carry a survivor of a collapsed mine on a stretcher in Bolaang Mongondow, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, on Thursday. (AP)

Indonesian officials trying to rescue trapped gold miners from an unlicensed shaft that collapsed nearly a week ago in remote jungle territory now say there could be up to 100 people buried inside.

The startling jump in the number of potential victims comes after the country’s disaster agency told the Associated Press last week that an estimated 37 miners were stuck in the rubble at the mine in North Sulawesi's Bolaang Mongondow district. At least nine people have died in the collapse, while 19 have been rescued. But an official said, as of Saturday, the voices of those trapped inside are no longer being heard – a grim prognosis for their hopes of survival.

"Some say 30 people, 50 people, 60 people, even 100 people because at the time many were mining in big pits, while in small pits it was unknown," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a disaster agency spokesperson, told the Associated Press on Monday, adding that there is "no exact data on the number of victims."

Nugroho also said information from relatives is still limited because many of the miners came from outside of the area.

INDONESIA RESCUERS, DESPERATE TO SAVE TRAPPED MINERS, BRING IN EXCAVATOR AS OXYGEN SUPPLY DWINDLES

Rescuers evacuate a survivor from inside of the collapsed gold mine. (AP/BASARNAS)

The unlicensed mine collapsed last Tuesday evening due to shifting soil and the large number of mining holes. Informal mining operations are commonplace in Indonesia, providing a tenuous livelihood to thousands who labor in conditions with a high risk of serious injury or death.

Rescuers brought in an excavator late last week to speed up their effort amid fears that the miners’ oxygen supply was running low. Yet no one has been pulled out of the mine since Friday and media access to it has been restricted since the weekend, the Associated Press reported.

"Since yesterday we have heard no more voices from inside. On this fourth day the signs of life faded away," Abdul Muin Paputungan, one of the officials overseeing the rescue effort, said on Saturday. "But we still try to save them even though at the moment it seems like a miracle if they can survive."

Paputungan says using the excavator is a precarious effort that requires a high level of caution to prevent new landslides in the mine or the excavator itself toppling into a ravine. More than 200 people from various agencies are involved in the rescue.

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Survivor Denni Mamonto, being treated at a hospital in Mobagu, said Friday that he was working in the mine with a group of friends when the roof collapsed without warning and large rocks tumbled down on them.

"My leg was stuck, I was helped by two others and then three helped me lift the rocks off my feet, then another person from above helped me out," he said. "But my friends didn't make it, those who work together with me."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.