Galamsey pit collapse: 16 bodies retrieved; more feared dead

Reports indicate that at least 16 bodies, comprising 2 females and 14 males have been retrieved from a spent-mining pit at Kyekyewere in the Upper Denkyira East Municipality of the Ashanti region.

The victims, all illegal miners, who were between 18 and 50 years, according to the Assemblyman for Kyekyewere Jacob Nicodemus Aboagye, got trapped and killed under the pit which they entered illegally.

It is feared that more bodies could be retrieved in the next few hours.

A team comprising officers from the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), the Ghana National Fire Service and the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is currently at the scene of the accident attempting to rescue any survivors.

The concession, according to Mr Aboagye belongs to a private mining firm.

The wall surrounding the pit collapsed on the illegal miners as they dug under the pit for gold on Monday April 15, 2013.

He told XYZ News that: “We saw that the wall had [fallen] on them. As of now, we have 16 dead bodies” retrieved from the pit.

He said they cannot tell how many people are still trapped under the pit.

“As of now we don’t have the number right now…we don’t know the actual [number of] bodies underground right now”, he said.

He said the site owner has completed working on the pit but the illegal miners have been digging under the wall surrounding the pit in their quest to scavenge gold from the spent-site.

He said the owner who has completed mining the concession started refilling the pit as required by practice.

Mr Aboagye however noted that each time the concession owner’s operators went to the site to refill the pit with gravels and sand, the illegal miners, some of whom were trapped under the pit on Monday April 15, 2013 chase them away with crude weapons amidst death threats.

“Even this morning, the operator who is filling the site came to work…[but] the galamsey workers threatened to kill him or hack him if he dare[d] filled that pit because they were working there”, Mr Aboagye noted.

Monday 15 April 2013

http://vibeghana.com/2013/04/15/galamsey-pit-collapse-16-bodies-retrieved-more-feared-dead/