The Upper East Regional Chairman of the Small-Scale Miners Association, Tampoare Robert Boazor, has clarified that the nine persons who have been confirmed dead after they were trapped in a mining pit in Talensi, were not illegal miners as some reports have suggested.

He said the deceased were among regular workers at a dedicated mining site in the Gbane area.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Thursday, Mr. Bazoa said the site where the incident occurred has been in use for over 10 years.

“The entire area is gazetted for small-scale mining. It is not an area for illegal activities, so people have gone to acquire licences to do their job. The pits are there and people have been working there for over 10 years now,” he said.

The bodies of nine miners were retrieved two days after a rescue mission by a joint security team together with officials of the National Disaster Management Organization, (NADMO).

Police say the deceased were miners trapped in a pit at the Moabok mining site following a downpour on the night of Monday, May 31, 2021.

” The rescue mission started two days earlier, but Wednesday, we were able to retrieve nine of the miners who were trapped after the heavy rains. The Municipal medical office came in to examine the bodies, and he pronounced them dead” Upper East Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), ASP David Fianko-Okyere said.

Tampoare Robert Boazor said they believe one more body is left underground, and efforts are underway to retrieve it.

This is not time such an accident has been reported in the Gbane mining area.

Source: citifmonline.com