7 Trapped in flooded mining pit at Moabok in Upper East Region
Seven people are feared dead in a flooded mining pit at Moabok, a mining community near Gbane in the Talensi District in the Upper East Region.
They were suspected to have been trapped inside the pit since last Monday after torrential rains rendered the pit unsafe when it flooded and subsequently closed in on them.
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Six others, who were part of the small scale mining group at the site, however, managed to escape from the pit before the disaster struck.
A joint operation by personnel of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the Ghana National Fire Service and the Ghana Police Service began an operation last Tuesday to either retrieve dead bodies or rescue survivors.
Incident
The Public Affairs Officer of the Upper East Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) David Fianko-Okyere, told the media in Bolgatanga Wednesday that a complaint to the police on Monday night and a follow-up interaction by the Regional Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Dr Sayibu Pabi Gariba, with about 500 young men who claimed to be engaged in small scale mining at the Moabok mining site revealed the magnitude of the incident.
He said the young men told the police that they had seen some 13 young men mining at a particular spot but saw only six of them emerge from the pit when it started raining.
Relatives and friends of the small- scale miners, apparently alarmed when the miners did not return home from work, reported the incident to the police, who then followed up early the next morning.
Operation
ASP Fianko-Okyere explained that the police also prompted the Regional Fire Service and the NADMO who teamed up to rescue the trapped miners.
Currently, the team has deployed various methods to draw water from the flooded area in order to have access to the pit.
The team was, however, yet to find any of the trapped miners as of the time of filing this report.
ASP Fianko-Okyere said it was still unclear what happened and how many people were actually trapped in the pit.
He said the police were seeking further information from the six survivors to assist in investigations towards the rescue mission.
The Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Yakubu, also visited the scene yesterday to assess the situation.
Meanwhile, members of the Upper East Region branch of the Ghana National Small-Scale Miners Association have urged the security agencies and other state institutions to work with swiftness in the rescue operation.
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