Eyewitnesses’ reports indicated that scores of illegal miners, mainly made up of energetic youth, were in the deep pit busily digging for gold when calamity suddenly struck.

The pit was said to have caved in and trapped all the illegal miners and their tools, which they were using to dig the grounds for gold in a dangerous fashion. Not a single miner was able to flee from harm’s path.

Initial rescue operation by the townsfolk led to the retrieval of two males, who unfortunately were already dead, having stayed under the huge debris for some hours before they were eventually rescued.

The Assemblyman for Mpasatia Ahenbronum, Salifu Karim, confirming the unfortunate incident to journalists, said the two miners had already given up the ghost when the rescuers brought them from the pit.

According to Mr. Karim, information available to him indicated that scores of people searching for gold from the deep pit on Tuesday morning got trapped after the pit caved in on them.

He said there were still a number of people in the collapsed pit, but they lack the necessary equipment to rescue them, saying, “the miners have stayed in the pit for a long time, and I fear that they are dead.”

He appealed to the appropriate state institutions such as National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and others to come to their aid, so they could remove the bodies from the pit.

Meanwhile, when filing this report on Tuesday evening, the rescue operation had stopped due to non-availability of the necessary equipment to carry out such a difficult operation.

Press1News