One gold miner has died while three others are fighting for their lives at Kaabong hospital after being buried in a gold mine. The incident took place around 3 pm on a river bank in Lobongia village in Lonongia sub-county in Kaabong district Wednesday.
Jacob Kule, the Kaabong District police Commander has identified the deceased as Albino Lomuge while the injured are Marwas Achuka, Lodukole Lochomin, and Low Lokuwam, all admitted at Kaabong hospital. He says that four were searching for gold forcing the soil to lose its stability and cover them up. “With the help of the community members three people were rescued but one had already died,” he said.
Jino Meri, the Kaabong LC V Chairperson has appealed to the government and development partners to support the gold miners with safer mining tools, arguing that many families are currently surviving on gold mining in the district. “The challenge we have right now is that our people dont have safer mining tools, which expose their lives to danger,” he said.
This is the second incident where gold miners are being buried alive in Karamoja. last month, four gold miners were buried alive in gold pits at the Chepuar mining site in Chepkararat village in Lokales sub-county in Amudat district. The four miners died as they were entering the pits to dig gold.
Jimmy Lokut, a resident of Kaabong town council, says that most miners dont have knowledge on how to carry the mining and urges development partners to sensitize and train the miners on the safer ways of mining gold to avoid such incidents.
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