Dozens of workers at an illegal gold mine in the northern Lao Cai province were buried under hundreds of cubic meters of rock and soil from a rockslide allegedly caused by the mine’s uncontrolled operation. Two of them died while 12 others were injured. The accident occurred on Thursday noon when many miners were working at the mining site, located in Minh Luong Commune, Van Ban District. A number of workers managed to escape the rockslide while tens of others were buried under a large volume of soil and rock. Rescuers helped the mine’s workers to search for the victims under the debris. They later found two people who had died and 12 others who were seriously injured.  All of the injured victims were taken to the Minh Luong Commune Health Center for emergency aid, but seven of them, due to critical conditions, were later transferred to the Van Ban District General Hospital for intensive treatment. The search for other victims continued since rescuers thought there might be more victims under the debris.   Pham Duc Hung, a senior official at the provincial Steering Board for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue, said that local authorities have banned gold mining in the commune, but many people still conducted gold exploitation illegally. Illegal miners had dug into the mountain to search for gold ores and it was the digging that had caused the rockslide, Hung said. Local residents also reported to authorities that a large number of miners from different localities flocked to the commune in recent times for gold exploration and exploitation. Previously, some similar illegal mining operations had occurred in the commune, causing many deaths, authorities said. Last year three female workers in the central Nghe An Province died and seven others were injured when a pit at an illegal gold mining site suddenly collapsed on them in Tuong Duong District on July 7, 2012.