Trapped galamseyers
Fourteen energetic illegal miners also known as ‘galamseyers’ are feared dead after the pit in which they were operating yesterday reportedly caved in on them at Nsuta, near Prestea in Western Region.
The illegal miners were believed to have been trapped after a heavy downpour.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that the illegal miners in the pit were about 19 in number, but five of them managed to escape unhurt when the wall caved in.
The five survivors are currently assisting the police in their investigations.
An eyewitness, Nanaba Boakye Ansah, of Prestea-based Energy FM, indicated that all the 14 bodies were still in the pit as at the time of going to press and that efforts were being made to retrieve them.
The Prestea District Police Commander, Supt Atsu Dzineku, told journalists that the police were trying to retrieve the bodies of the victims.
He said that the police gathered that the pit was an old one that the illegal miners sneaked into it to operate.
“We visited the site and the information we gathered through a committee chairman was that 14 were trapped and were feared dead,” he averred.