The gold field in Nimba County is a major centre for illicit mining.

According to the county administrator, David Dorr Cooper, more than 1,000 people work in the mine, near the town of Tappita.

He said the field attracts workers from across the region, some of whom are armed. He described the area around the mine as “lawless”.

Local authorities have so far failed in their efforts to shut down the unregulated site.

Poverty and a weak economy mean there is no shortage of Liberians willing to risk death in illicit goldmines, said BBC’s Jonathan Paye-Layleh in the capital, Monrovia.

Mr. Cooper said the miners conducting the rescue operation themselves faced dangerous conditions in the pit.

They were using their hands to remove debris, he said, and would not use excavators – even if these were available – because of the risk of harming any trapped survivors.

The five bodies recovered on Wednesday had been swiftly buried because they were already decomposing, he said.

A senior doctor at Jackson F. Doe Memorial Hospital in Tappita said he had been treating survivors from Saturday’s disaster for cuts, broken limbs and dehydration.