With headlamps still glowing and gear abandoned, the Sudanese gold prospectors in the northern valley quickly launched a spontaneous rescue after Ammar* reached the location of the suspected Egyptian air attack.

Emergency Lawyers, a Sudanese rights organization, reported at least 114 deaths from the Saturday 10 October strike on an artisanal gold site crowded with young Sudanese seeking income in a nation whose economy lies in ruins after three years of conflict.

Resentment has grown in Sudan toward those blaming Egypt for the attack, with critics decrying aggression against laborers who supply much of the region's gold and highlighting the country's failure to shield its citizens.

"These workers arrived simply to support themselves through honest effort," says Ammar, a gold trader from another site who answered calls to aid survivors.

"Their relatives are displaced by fighting, and they forward earnings home," he says. "With few jobs available, they head to the hills and dig by hand just to survive."

Upon arrival, Ammar encountered disorder as miners left their tasks to help the wounded. Green sacks for carrying ore lay scattered while rescuers fashioned stretchers from blankets, transported injured individuals in trucks to nearby settlements, and prepared burials.

Miners immediately pointed to Egypt as the source, and the Sudanese military later verified operations aimed at halting "illegal goldmining in the eastern desert" without directly referencing the air strike.

Egypt had reportedly hit the same location in June, resulting in at least 15 fatalities per Sudanese reports, and conducted earlier raids that led to detentions and equipment seizures.

Egypt indicated it had dropped leaflets urging civilians to depart ahead of the action. Social media images show notices reading: "Surrender yourselves and your equipment. Your lives are more important than any equipment."

Mohamed Salah of Emergency Lawyers noted clashes occurred prior to the bombing between miners and Egyptian forces attempting to clear the zone.

"Although Egyptian officials have long worked to limit unlawful border commerce, residents did not foresee military aircraft being used," Salah says.

He reports that most miners have scattered since the incident but anticipates their return.

"The miners insist they will come back, as artisanal gold extraction in these frontier zones remains their sole means of support," he says.

Many originate from war-affected areas such as Darfur and Kordofan, gradually traveling across the country before attempting to earn a living searching for gold along the Egyptian frontier.

While Egypt presents its actions as efforts to stop unauthorized mining, it has gained from the informal sector by obtaining an estimated 60 percent of gold produced and smuggled from northern Sudanese border regions.

Despite three years of fighting between the Sudanese military and the rebel Rapid Support Forces, gold output persists in territories held by both factions, with artisanal sites expanding amid rising poverty.

These operations depend on manual work and place laborers at risk from processing chemicals including mercury and cyanide.

Human rights advocate Hala al-Karib highlights how the strike exposes the prospectors' precarious position.

"They lack alternative ways to earn a living due to the breakdown of schools and elevated joblessness. What choices remain for survival?" asks Karib, who heads the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa network.

"They sit at the lowest level, facing exploitation by major traders. It is especially distressing that they also endure this random violence and loss of life. It constitutes a crime with no justification."

* Name changed to protect his identity