The body of a 48-year-old man named Frank Acheampong was found on Sunday in a water-filled pit at Manso Aboabo, a community in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region.
The pit is believed to be an abandoned mining site.
The deceased was reportedly missing last Friday and was later discovered in the gold pit on Sunday, September 15, 2019.
“The victim’s body was found around 10a.m., not far from the edge of the pit”, said Ignatius Kingsley Amoah, the Zonal Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) at Manso-Mpatoam.
He added that the deceased was the second person to have drowned in an unreclaimed mining site in the community that week. On September 12, a primary six pupil also died in a similar accident.
Police, according to the NADMO Coordinator, were called to convey the partially decomposed body to the Frimpong Boateng Hospital for preservation and autopsy.
The Amansie West District has the highest number of illegal miners in the Ashanti Region.
Despite widespread evidence of polluted water bodies, farmlands and forests being turned into deserts, galamsey is still seen as a lucrative venture for the unemployed youth in the area.
At least 17 persons were killed in the last eight months of 2014 alone.
By J. Ofori, Daily Mail GH
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