Illegal miners back to business after pit collapse

Illegal gold miners at Patriensa in the Asante-Akim Municipality have returned to their illegitimate operation barely a month after a mine pit collapsed, killing two of their colleagues and leaving two others badly hurt.

Many of those who fled the place in the aftermath of the disaster are said to back to their normal routine, paying scant or no regard to the ban on illegal mining by the government.

They appear to have become emboldened by the withdrawal of the team of military and police officers deployed in the area in the early days of the tragic event to resume work.

Residents of the town, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and asked that they should not be identified for fear of being attacked, said the illegal digging for gold was done mostly deep in night.

They added that they found id deeply troubling the recalcitrance of the miners, majority of them came from outside the community, and said this was a huge bother.

The people appealed for immediate deployment of armed police and military personnel to help protect water bodies, farms and farmlands from further destruction.

Malam Yielpi and one Mohammed, were killed when a mine pit collapsed on them at Patriensa, on July 24.

Two others, identified as Alhassan Fuseini and Abdulai Mohammed, got seriously hurt and received treatment at the hospital.

Source: GNA