Gold mine collapse in Guinea kills 14 illegal miners

"The victims, all men, were killed inside the mines. They were buried underground. There were 14 killed and several injured," Laye Diawara, a resident of Siguiri who saw the accident site, told Reuters by telephone.

"They were illegal miners. Earlier, soldiers had chased them away from the site but they came back, and that's when the accident happened," Diawara said.

"The people who were on the lookout in case the soldiers came back went to help them, but it was too late for most of them," he said.

A senior police officer confirmed the collapse but did not know how many people had been killed.

"There were people killed in the collapse, but we haven't got precise figures because we haven't yet received a report," said the officer, who declined to be identified.

South Africa's Anglogold Ashanti <ANGJ.J> operates a concession at Siguiri, producing 300,000 ounces of gold a year.