The search for gold is a dangerous and laborious gamble for Sudan’s miners

When Altayeb Alhadi was just six years old, his father died after a well collapsed in his village in White Nile state, south-central Sudan. Two months later, and his mother also died, leaving the five children in the family as orphans. As the eldest of the siblings, it was Altayeb’s responsibility to find work and help the family survive.At 14, he travelled hundreds of kilometres from his home in Galli village to seek work in the north, where gold mines dot the landscape, so he could feed his siblings and keep them in school.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3At least 72 Sudanese miners killed in air strike: Rights monitorlist 2 of 3Deadly gold mine air strikes highlight Egypt-Sudan border insecuritylist 3 of 3Sudan’s soaring fuel prices make getting by harder for workersend of list“We warned him about the dangers, but he was ambitious. Some relatives were already working in the area although they had found jobs in restaurants and other services rather than underground extraction,” Ayateb’s uncle Alhadi Hamid told Al Jazeera.The boy initially worked in transport and other jobs, but when he heard lucrative stories from miners in the area, he began to search for gold in th...