Sudarsa said the rescue effort would continue until Tuesday in the hope of retrieving the miners’ bodies, which are yet to be found.
Authorities had planned to deploy divers to find the miners but local rescue official Priyo Prayudha Utama told AFP “it was not possible” because the mine shaft was too narrow.
Most of the trapped miners had moved from West Java to mine in the region, police said.
On Friday police charged four people with allegedly operating the mine without a permit.
The suspects, including one who remains at large, face up to five years in prison and 100 billion rupiah (US$6.6 million) in fines.
In 2021, six people were killed on Sulawesi island after an illegal gold mine collapsed.
At least 16 people were killed two years earlier when another illegal gold mine on the island collapsed and buried the workers.
In 2016, 11 miners died after a mudslide engulfed an illegal gold mine in Sumatra’s Jambi province.
Source: CNA
