Five dead after gold mining pit caves in at Ayanfuri Gyaman
Besides the five men confirmed dead, at least 15 other people were injured in the accident at the site in the Central Region
Five people have been confirmed dead after a mining pit caved in at Ayanfuri Gyaman, a community in the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central Region.
Over 15 others who were prospecting for gold in the pit have sustained various degrees of injury.
The injured prospectors were rescued by a team from the community with help from the police.
Cause of accident
The Dunkwa District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police Edmund Jones Affutu, who led the rescue mission, confirmed to Asaase Radio that the incident occurred on Thursday evening.
‘‘Yesterday … at 4.30pm, I had a distress call that the mining site Face 2 at Ayanfuri has caved in and trapped some miners. So I organised my men and we went to the scene.
“We found out that five people had been trapped and two were dead,’’ he said.
Investigations suggest that the accident was caused by a crack opening up in the upper part of the pit.
“I went to the site with my team members and we inspected the place and realised there was a big crack,” said DSP Affutu. “That is what caused the mine to cave in.”
The police have since taken over the site and are pursuing investigations.
It was the second time in a week that such an incident had occurred. On Sunday (27 September) five people died after an illegal mining (galamsey) pit collapsed in Lower Adum Banso electoral area, a farming community in the Wassa East District of the Western Region.
DSP Affutu said the team rushed one of the survivors to the Ayanfuri Pentecost Clinic and another four to the Dunkwa District Hospital, but three more died.
NADMO and police save more
The Upper Denkyira West NADMO director, Isaac Gyasi, also confirmed to Citi News that the “rescue team involving the police and NADMO moved to the area and were able to rescue the 20 illegal miners, but unfortunately five died in the process”.
He said the mining pit belongs to a registered company operating in the Upper Denkyira West area but the illegal miners went into the pit to work, leading to the incident.
He said NADMO and the police would move to the area again to continue investigations.
Asaase Radio’s Central regional correspondent, Kwaku Baah Acheamfour, reports that the bodies of the five men who died have since been deposited at the Abura Dunkwa Government Hospital.
At least 15 people who sustained injuries are receiving treatment.
Nathaniel Crabbe and Fred Dzakpata
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