 At least 23 people have died in central Venezuela after a wall of earth collapsed at an illegally operated gold mine while dozens of people were at work, Yorgi Arciniega, a local official, told the AFP news agency that about 23 bodies had been recovered from the open pit mine known as Bololoca in the jungles of the state of Bolivar. Some 200 people were thought to have been working in the mine, which is a seven-hour boat ride from the nearest town, La Paragua, according to officials. We are evaluating the damage and doing a rescue analysis, the vice-minister of civil protection, Carlos Perez Amputa, told. Eger Calina, a security official in the Bolivar state government, urged caution and said more state officials were trying to reach La Paragua to update the death toll, Bolivar is a forest-covered region that has long been affected by illegal mining for gold and other minerals. In recent years, informal mining activity, often controlled by criminal groups, has expanded and reached as far as Canaima National Park, a pristine territory on the border between Venezuela and Brazil.