3 Dead As Dozens Trapped Heard ‘Screaming For Help’ After Illegal Indonesian Gold Mine Collapses.

An illegal gold mine in Indonesia has collapsed and buried dozens of people who are “screaming for help,” according to a disaster management official at the mine, where three people were confirmed dead.

At least two of the confirmed victims were killed by falling rocks, disaster management agency official Abdul Muin Paputungan told CNN.

Up to 43 illegal miners are estimated to be still buried, he said. “Some of the victims who are still trapped are screaming for help. We can hear that they’re (able to) respond to us, but we cannot reach them yet because the land is susceptible (to collapse) and moved easily,” he said.

Rescuers are moving gingerly for fear of sparking another cave-in.

Fourteen others have been rescued.

Searchers are having to work by hand because heavy equipment cannot be brought into the remote location in the north of Sulawesi island.

Illegal mining is rife in the area, officials say.

Illegal mining is rife in the area, officials say.

The landslide struck at 9 p.m. local time Tuesday (9 a.m. ET) in the village of Bakan.

Video posted by Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Board for Disaster Management, showed helmeted rescue workers struggling to access the site, a steeply sloping area churned up by the collapse and dotted with shattered trees and displaced boulders.