A three-year-old girl has drowned in an abandoned illegal mining pit while playing with her friends at a hamlet called Sefwi Akuraa near Samreboi in the Amenfi West Municipality of the Western Region.
According to sources, the little girl had gone missing for about three days after playing with her friends.
The lifeless body of the three-year-old girl was found floating in the nearby abandoned galamsey pit filled with water on Sunday, June 14, 2024.
The mother of the deceased, who gave her name as Maame Yaa, said her daughter was playing outside with other children in the community on Friday afternoon and went missing.
She explained that she was initially in the room with her daughter last Friday but went out to purchase watermelon.
“When I returned I did not see her in the room, so I rushed to where some children were playing and saw her there happily playing with them.
“So I left her there. However, when I went back to pick her up after sometime, she was not there. So I informed my mother who asked me to continue looking for her,” she said.
She indicated that she informed some youth in the area after failing to locate her daughter, and the young guys launched a search that lasted several hours.
She mentioned that despite the determined efforts, the search ended in sorrow as they eventually found the girl’s lifeless body in the pit.
“After three days of searching and combing the entire area, the lifeless body of my daughter was found floating in the galamsey pit,” she added.
The community members have therefore raised concerns about the increased rate of illegal mining activities in the area.
The residents said they have repeatedly called for measures to secure the hazardous sites, which threaten the community, particularly children.
The unit committee chairman for the area, Oscar Boafo, said the elders of the community have on several occasions warned the illegal miners to desist and also cover the pits when they are done with their illegal activities.
“They once brought a machine to cover the various pits, but the machine could not work because it had some faults. They have, however, brought another excavator to fill the pit, so that this unfortunate incident will not occur again,” he indicated.
From Emmanuel Opoku, TakoradiÂ