Two people dead as 18 miners rescued after the collapse of a Kakamega gold mine

Two miners died while 18 others were rescued at the Tumaini gold mine in Museno Village, Shinyalu Constituency, Kakamega County after the walls of the mines collapsed on Monday evening.

Before the accident, the gold mine had 20 people and by Monday night eight people had been rescued before 10 more were pulled out of the mine on Tuesday morning.

Confirming the incident Shinyalu Sub-County Police Commander Daniel Mukubu said the operation was underway to retrieve the body of the person trapped inside the mine.

“We retrieved the body of one person and operations are ongoing to retrieve the body of the remaining miner. However, we have managed to rescue 18 people, 10 of them are receiving treatment at Kakamega County General Hospital,” said Mukubu.

Mukubu said the nature of the place posed a challenge to the rescue mission considering it is a weak and sloppy place that does not allow the use of machinery.

“The terrain of the place has made it difficult for the use of machinery and we are forced to go manual in rescuing those trapped inside the mines because if we apply the use of machines we risk creating more troubles,” said Mukubu.

Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa who visited the site and ongoing search and rescue mission called on the Ministry of Mining and Blue Economy to implement safety measures to safeguard the artisanal and small-scale mining sector.

Barasa said the national government should come in and provide safety equipment to support the artisanal activities from the mining process to the production stage.

“Our miners should also be taken through training which will focus on occupational hazards that include environmental health and the destruction of the eco-system,” Barasa said.

He noted that mining is an economic activity that should be supported because it is a source of income for many families in the county.

“I support artisanal mining even though it poses various challenges whose solutions should be found. However, if we support this sector with equipment and financial aid then some of these challenges will be unheard of,” he said.

National Vice-Chairman of Artisanal Miners Fredrick Ligami called for speed registration and certification of artisanal small-scale farmers to get the required assistance.

“We need to speed the issuance of permits to our miners to get requisite equipment for safe mining from the government and investors,” said Ligami.

Patrick Makhule in-charge of the Western Region Resilience mining team said the collapse of the mining site was occasioned by a colonial tunnel that was constructed a long time ago.

“This was just an accident because the miners had no information about the tunnel and when the miners unknowingly tampered with the tunnel it is when the walls of the mine collapsed,” said Makhule.

Mukhule said a good number of gold mines in the region are safe while calling for sensitisation of artisanal miners for safer mining.

“We need to sensitize and create awareness to our small-scale artisanal miners on the safety of gold mining,” said Mukhule.

A week ago, Cabinet Secretary for Mining Ali Joho while in Kakamega County called for a collaboration between the national government and county governments to get rid of illegal miners to streamline the sector to avoid perennial accidents in gold mines.

Kakamega County has at least 8,000 artisanal miners operating without licenses.

Last year eight miners were trapped in an artisanal gold mine collapsed in Abimbo, Siaya County. 

Six miners were rescued and one succumbed.

The latest incident is set to revive the debate on the safety of mines in the country even as the government intensifies efforts to close illegal mines.

In October 2021, two fatalities and several injuries were reported at a Copper Hill mine in Nyatike, Migori County.

Additionally, another accident was reported at a mine in Ikolomani, Kakamega County, where five miners died while several others escaped with serious injuries.

According to reports by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) at least 250,000 people are directly employed in artisanal gold mines while more than one million people depend on the sector for their livelihoods. 

Some miners are proud entrepreneurs while many others have no other alternatives.

Additionally, UNDP states that deaths in artisanal mines are characterized by poorly developed underground workings due to the informal nature of the activity.