The Ghana Police Service are investigating two people after a mining pit collapse killed three people at Breman Brofoyedur in the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central Region.
Dozens of miners are reportedly trapped in the illegal mining pit that caved in on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 but there were no such signs during a rescue mission, officials told dailymailgh.com.
The police confirmed that two of the bodies have been identified as Kwasi Yeboah, 24, and a 13-year-old child known as Fabetia. The identity of the third victim, an adult female, is unknown.
A Deputy Public Relations Officer of the Central Regional Police Command, Sergeant Evans Ettie, said the suspects, Kwaku Appiah and Kwesi Appiah, have been arrested, and are assisting the police with investigations.
“The bodies of the victims have been deposited at the Dunkwa-on-Offin Municipal hospital mortuary for preservation, identification and autopsy,” the CNR quoted the police spokesperson as saying.
The Minerals Commission, the institution tasked to investigate the incident revealed that the miners were working illegally at the site which is located within the authorised prospecting area assigned to Adio-Mabas Ghana Limited.
This incident comes at a time when government has renewed the fight against all forms of illegal small-scale mining around the country.
A similar incident occurred in October 2020 when five persons were reported dead after they were trapped in a mining pit in the same district.
Fifteen others, who were also trapped in the cave, sustained various injuries after the incident.
In November 2020, an illegal small-scale mining pit on the outskirts of Ayanfuri collapsed and trapped eight persons between the ages of 24 and 35.
Another life was lost on May 17, 2021 after an underground mining pit in the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine concession caved in and trapped some workers.
SOURCE: DAILY MAIL GH with files from CNR
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