HARARE, August 19. /TASS/. About 100 people died as a rock collapsed at a gold mine in Zambo· in eastern Cameroon, Cameroun24 portal quoted local residents as saying.

Search and rescue operations are underway; the full extent of the incident remains to be determined, the story says. Many people were in the mine at the time of the collapse.

Rescuers are working in difficult conditions. The debris is being cleared manually, as there are concerns that using heavy machinery could cause the mine shafts, which are still intact, to collapse.

The incident occurred in a gold-bearing area near the border with the Central African Republic, where people from that country, as well as from Chad, Burkina Faso, and Mali, also work, which may further complicate the identification of the deceased.