Survivors of the goldmine that caved in, burying 15 workers in Sigalagala Village in Kakamega County, shared the last moments before the accident occured.
After being rescued on Thursday, Friday 9, the survivors recalled hearing a loud blast before the mine caved in.
In a video seen by Kenyans.co.ke, some of the family members who had lost their loved ones in the horrific scene.
“We heard a big blast and we didn’t know how it happened. We didn’t know where it was coming from.
We began questioning where it had come from and saw the pit had caved in. After the loud blast, the pit was filled with soil burying some miners,” one survivor recounted.
Police reported that eight people were rescued from the tragedy, while seven others were still trapped in the mine.
“This morning at around 2:00 am, a goldmine caved in, burying 15 young men in Sigalagala Village in Kakamega.
“NPS and county government officers, together with emergency response teams from the county, Red Cross and the locals, are on the scene helping with the rescue mission,” reads the statement.
On December 2, 2021, a man trapped under rubble after a gold mine collapsed in Abimbo in Siaya, was rescued.
The victim was pulled out of the site alive after being buried underneath for four days. He was among ten miners trapped after the walls of the gold mine caved in. Two were rescued immediately – leaving eight others trapped.
Due to their poor working conditions, the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) warned the residents to be careful and avoid the health risks associated with the mines.
According to NEMA, most workers need safety tools such as ear plugs, glasses, masks, gloves and gumboots to extract gold from the mines.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE