Jakarta  - At least 12 illegal gold miners were killed in a landslide in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua while nine other people were missing and feared dead, police and local media reports said Tuesday.

The accident took place late Monday when more than 20 locals were working in the remote Timika district at an illegal mining camp near the Grasberg gold and copper mine, the world's largest gold mine, operated by PT Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of the US-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc.

Adjunct Senior Commissioner Godhelp, chief of the Timika police district, which is about 3,200 kilometres north-east of Jakarta, told the Jakarta-based Elshinta private radio station that 12 bodies had been recovered, leaving nine people still buried under tons of earth and industrial waste and feared dead.

Rescue workers, made up of police officers and local community members, were searching for the missing using traditional tools before heavy machinery from PT Freeport arrived at the scene Tuesday afternoon.

Godhelp said the local government and PT Freeport Indonesia had repeatedly warned the locals not to live and conduct mining activity in the area because of potential landslides.

The Grasberg mine, also believed to be the world's third-largest copper mine, has long been controversial because of its environmental impact, the alleged unfair distribution of the mine's profits and the legality of payments to Indonesian security forces who help guard the site. (dpa)