At least 48 people have been killed in the collapse of an illegally operated goldmine in western Mali, authorities and local sources have said.

Mali is one of Africa’s leading gold producers, and mining sites are regularly the scene of deadly landslides and accidents.

Authorities have struggled to control unregulated mining of the precious metal in the country, which is among the world’s poorest.

“The toll at [6pm] today [Saturday] is 48 dead following the collapse,” said a police source.

“Some of the victims fell into the water. Among them was a woman with her baby on her back.”

A local official confirmed the cave-in, while the Kenieba goldminers’ association also put the death toll at 48.

The search for victims was ongoing, the head of an environmental organisation said.

Saturday’s accident took place at an abandoned site formerly operated by a Chinese company, sources told AFP.

In January, a landslide at a goldmine in southern Mali killed at least 10 people and left many others missing, most of them women.

Just over a year ago, a tunnel collapsed at a goldmining site in the same region as Saturday’s landslide, killing more than 70 people.