BAMAKO: The death toll from last week’s accident at an artisanal gold mine in southwest Mali has risen to more than 70, the head of Mali’s Mines Chamber said on state radio on Thursday.

The deaths were caused after a shaft collapsed on Friday inside an artisanal gold mining site in the Kangaba Cercle in Mali’s southwestern Koulikoro Region. The mines ministry reported over 40 killed on Wednesday but said that figure was provisional.

The President of Mali’s Mines Chamber, Abdoulaye Pona, who headed a government delegation dispatched to the area on Thursday, told state radio the death toll had risen to over 70, including one woman.