Galamsey pit kills 10 and injures seven in the Prestea Huni Valley Municipality as it caves in
All the dead bodies have been conveyed to the morgue in Tarkwa
Correspondence from the Western Region:
Read full articleTen people have died at Wassa Essikuma, a community in the Wassa Nkran Electoral Area of the Prestea Huni Valley Municipality after a galamsey pit collapsed on them.
Seven people who sustained various degrees of injury are receiving treatment at the Apinto Government Hospital in Tarkwa.
The accident happened on Wednesday night around 9 pm when the victims were busily prospecting for gold.
The government has placed a ban on illegal mining, but they defied the directives of the government, leading to the accident.
Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb, an opinion leader of the community Mr. Kwame Bukro said, due to the severity of the accident, they organised an excavator to remove the dead bodies under the supervision of the police and military.
He added that “we have conveyed all the dead bodies to the morgue in Tarkwa while the rest are responding to treatment at the Apinto Government hospital.”
Speaking to Ghanaweb, the Prestea Huni Valley NADMO Director, Francis
Abeiku Yankah said, “we have visited the accident scene to rescue the victims and removed the dead bodies from the pit with the help of the police and other security forces.”
He expressed worry about the rate people are mining illegally without putting into consideration their safety.
He advised the “galamseyers” to go through the right process in order to mine safely.
