Six people were found dead, and another was still missing after a mudslide buried workers at an illegal gold mining site in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, officials said on Thursday.

Sixteen miners were rescued after the Parigi Moutong district’s incident on Wednesday evening, said Andi Sultan, the Operational Head of the Provincial Search and Rescue Agency.

“Among those found dead were a husband and his wife,” he said.

The mine shaft collapsed about 30 minutes after heavy rain began pouring in, burying workers under 20-metre thick mud, said Raditya Jati, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency.

“More people came because they heard the news that there was substantial gold, and they jostled to get into the narrow pit,” said Mr. Jati.

He explained that about 100 people were working in the mine at that time, but most managed to escape.

Soldiers, police, and residents had joined the search for the missing.

Deadly accidents are common in Indonesia’s artisanal mining sites, and about two dozen people have been killed in similar disasters this year.