At least 9 illegal miners have been reported dead in Zamfara State when a mining pit caved in on them in Dogon Daji Village of Ruwan Dorawa, Maru Local Government Area of the state.
The incident came following the success of two other miners who reportedly dug gold worth N2.3 million two days prior to the sad occurrence.
It was gathered that it all happened in the early hours of Wednesday when the miners were allegedly digging up gold at one of the mining sites, few metres from Dogon Daji Village.
According to an eyewitness identified as Shafi’u Abdullahi, residents of the area were about observing their alat al-Fajr (morning prayer) when some people rushed to the mosque crying for help.
He said: “We rushed to the mining site and found out that the under ground tunnel caved in and we understand that 10 people were inside and we believed they were buried alive.”
It was learnt that it took the rescue team more than nine hours before they could dig the dead miners out of the collapsed pit.
Abdullahi further disclosed that only one person came out alive and he was rushed to the hospital in Maru immediately.
“When we brought them out around 2:00p.m, nine of them were already dead except one Mallam Hussaini Maikifi who was rescued and rushed to hospital.” He said
Another reliable source named Lawali Abubakar revealed that before the pit eventually caved in on them, there was sign of possible collapse but the desperate money mongers took it for granted.
Sources further said since two miners made N2.3 million in one of the mining pits in the area, unemployed residents of the community had been using it as a source of living.
“We won’t stop mining despite the dangers unless government provides alternative jobs because we are eking out a living from the business,” another eyewitness, Isah Ibrahim asserted.
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the state police command, Hassan Usman Talba, a Deputy Commissioner of Police said that illegal mining had since been banned and anybody caught would be prosecuted.
He said, “The only problem we are facing on the issue of illegal mining is that we cannot locate these illegal mining sites with ease because, they are mostly situated in the forests and let me tell you when I was a DPO in Anka Local Government Area, I arrested some of them.”
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