Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Awendo Town.
Two brothers were among the six gold mine diggers who perished in a fresh mining incident when the 12 feet deep gold mine walls caved in.
The incident occurred at Nyamome Village in Nyabisawa location, Suba West Division, Migori district within the County of Migori.
The latest deaths bring to 13 the number of people who have died of the gold mines related accidents within three weeks within the greater Southern Nyanza region.
In the first incident three people died while the fourth person ho was pulled out of the rubbles’ unconscious has also been reported to have died in hospital. The first incident took place in Nyatike district, but also within Migori County.
The third incident in which a white foreigner, suspected to be the investor, died while making a concerted effort to pull out the bodies of his dead workers took place at Nyahera area of Central Kasipul in the Rachuonyo South district within Homa-Bay County.
In this particular incident, the mine wall did not caved in, but the worker had gone in to the hole with power generator water pump to pump out water which had filled the pit. The engine developed mechanical problem following the fuel leakage which burnt the fresh air and the men simply could not breathe and all suffocated and died.
In another gold mining related death three people were buried alive when the mine they were working on caved in killing the three instantly and seriously injuring one at Kanyasrega in Sakwa North Location, Awendo district also within Migori County.
The police in Rongo district had hinted that they would mobilize the people to ensure that all the gold mine pits are covered to avoid more deaths.
In the first incident in Nyamome village, only five kilometers south west of Migori town, the word had gone around that the huge gold deposit in the area attracting close to more than 200 prospectors, some of them travelling from distant places far away from Migori town.
Migori deputy police Chief James Mwangi was among he first senior government officials to arrive at the scene of the accident, which took place on Monday at 11AM. It occurred after about twelve miners had worked in the pit for close to eight hours. The miners entered into the pit against the backdrop of the warning that following the incessant downpour of heavy rains the ground was weak and as such the mines wall stand the risk of caving in.
The police said ten men were working in the mine pit, and effort to rescue the four who remained missing were under way, though the rescuer were using crude equipment such as jembes and spades,
One survivor told newsmen that he had warned his colleagues to steer clear of the mine pit and not t go much deeper because the ground was wet and weak, but none could hear of his advice.
Migori and Nyatike are mineral rich region of the greater Southern Nyanza. Before independence in 1962 several full fledged mines were operational, one at Masara and the other one perhaps the largest, at Macalder gold and copper as well as nickel thrives. But the white mining experts left in a huff fearing that free Kenya could turn chaotic in the same fashion like it happened in the Congo a few years earlier.
Also in Kuria there was a gold mine in Kehancha and also in neighboring Trans-Mara district at Lolgorien and Nyamongo. Another thriving and most important gold mine was located at Kitere on the site where Moi University campus now stand. The departing white managers, however, left the country in huff and never thought of having the mine pit sealed to avoid accidental death by the locals and domestic animals. Most of the facilities were established during the “Big Gold Rush” of the 1930s.
Both Migori and Kuja Rivers are also reported rich in alluvial gold prompting illegal prospecting by locals using crude means.
A number of local and foreign companies are currently prospecting for minerals in Migori, Rongo and Homa-Bay regions, which are believes to be rich in minerals including uranium, cement and limes.
Ends