A teenage boy in Gulu City has been confirmed dead and two others people critically injured after being buried by a murrum pit. The incident occurred Wednesday near Koro Primary School in Lajwatek in the Bardege-Layibi division.
Charles Oboo, the Lajwatek Village LC 1 Chairperson identified the deceased as Komakech Okecha (14) while the injured are Odoki (32) who broke both legs, and Simon Peter Odong (45), who sustained several bodily injuries.
The victims are all residents of the area. Oboo told URN that Okecha`s body was retrieved from the pit and taken to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital morgue while the injured were rushed for treatment at the same facility.
According to Oboo, the victim and survivors were using hoes to extract the murram from the pit for sale when the heap suddenly collapsed and buried them alive. Okecha, who was on top of the murrum, was already dead by the time he was found.
This is not the first time such an incidence has been recorded at the murrum site, which is found on a piece of land belonging to Mzee Paul Odong. Last year one person also died in a similar way.
On Wednesday afternoonGulu City officials led by Mayor Alfred Okwonga rushed to the scene where they indefinitely suspended all illegal mining activities in the area.
Each trip of murram costs between 35,000 and 40,000 Shillings but casual workers earn less than 10,000 Shillings per trip. The murram is majorly used to fill potholes on roads, and at construction sites.URN
