Ten Die In Galamsey Pit Collapse, Others Injured
On Thursday (November 25), at least ten persons were reported dead after an illegal mining mine crashed in on them in Prestea-Huni Valley in the Western Region.
Four more people were being treated at the Prestea-Huni Valley Hospital after being injured in the incident on Thursday.
The victims were illegally mining when the hole collapsed, according to Francis Abeiku Yankah, coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in Prestea Huni Valley.
“It is far away from where the municipal town assembly is, the residents of the community began the rescue ad were joined subsequently by the Police, NADMO, and BNI officials,” he said.
“It was an illegal mine, not registered, we had earlier warned them to stop them from mining, but they returned to the site three or two months later, so they went underground to mine when the incident occurred.”
On Wednesday in Bremang, the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central Region, three individuals were reported killed after an illegal mining mine crashed in on them (26 May 2021). Two women and a man are said to be among the dead, according to multiple media reports.
“At this time, we have been able to retrieve only three bodies and they have been handed over to the police,” Francis Agyapong, the assembly member for Breman, told Accra-based Akoma FM.
“We pray that we can remove them on time to save them, but those we have even retrieved have already died, so we are helpless and don’t even know what to do,” Agyapong said.
Eyewitnesses say close to 15 others remained trapped in the pit as local people join a team of police and officials from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to rescue them.
The police are yet to comment on the incident.
Ghana has recently stepped up its campaign against illegal mining by deploying soldiers to guard water sources.
Large amounts of mining equipment were destroyed as a result of Operation Halt II. Military soldiers have set fire to excavators at galamsey sites in the Central, Eastern, and Western Regions, in particular.
Furthermore, a high-powered military team led by Vice-Admiral Seth Amoama, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), voiced alarm at the devastation caused by illegal small-scale miners (galamsey) on the River Mempong.
In the Akim Kwabeng Traditional Area, the Mempong is one of the principal tributaries of the River Birim.
The Birim, in turn, is a major tributary of Ghana’s River Pra and the country’s most important diamond-producing region, flowing through the majority of the Eastern Region.
The river springs in the east of the Atewa Range flows north through the Kwahu Plateau’s gap and then run generally south-west till it meets the Pra.
Source: Opemsuo.com/ Emmanuel Owusu Anti
