FAIZABAD, Afghanistan, Jan 10, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Four miners in northern Afghanistan were suffocated to death by fumes this week while digging for gemstones, a local official told AFP on Saturday.

"The incident occurred in Khash District of Badakhshan province where four workers at a mine died", Ehsanullah Kamgar, the spokesman for Badakhshan's police told AFP, adding the deaths occurred on Friday.

The miners were searching for precious stones underground and "died due to suffocation caused by fumes emitted from a stone-crushing machine", he added.

Authorities did not respond to AFP's request for comment on whether the mine was operating officially or illegally.

Afghanistan mines marble, minerals, gold, and precious stones as well as coal.

Resources, including copper and lithium, buried across Afghanistan's rocky landscape are estimated to be worth a trillion dollars, according to US and UN assessments from 2010 and 2013.

Fatal accidents are frequent and miners often work without adequate equipment or safety gear.

In July 2025, six miners were killed and 18 injured in a coal mine collapse in the northern province of Baghlan.