Trapped Indonesia miners get provisions

BOLAANG MONGONDOW, Indonesia — Rescuers have passed water and food to some of the dozens of people trapped in a collapsed Indonesian gold mine, an official said Thursday, calling the grueling rescue effort in a remote inaccessible location a race against time.

The national disaster agency said 19 people had been rescued alive from the mine in North Sulawesi’s Bolaang Mongondow district as of Thursday evening. The death toll rose to seven and about three dozen miners remain trapped.

Disaster official Abdul Muin Paputungan said a trapped miner’s leg was amputated to free him but the man died from blood loss while being carried out.

Rescue workers used makeshift stretchers to haul victims through steep jungle terrain to safety.

“We hope those still trapped can survive with the food and drinking water that we delivered to them,” Paputungan said. “We have to race against time because their conditions are getting weaker and the oxygen inside we hope is still enough to let them survive.”

Wooden structures in the mine collapsed Tuesday evening because of 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.

AP Rescuers stand Thursday at the entrance of the collapsed gold mine in Bolaang Mongondow, Indonesia.