Officials said the victims were villagers who were mining for gold illegally, rather than in a government project. "Poor villagers during winters try to compensate their earnings by pursuing illegal mining. A police spokesman for Badakhshan province, Sanaullah Rohani, earlier said the cause of the accident, which occurred in heavy snowfall, was a landslide. Rohani said seven people were injured alongside the at least 30 killed, while they were working inside the mine in Kohistan district. Landslides are frequent in the northern mountainous provinces of Afghanistan.

Source: bd News24 January 06, 2019 12:00 UTC