From John Adams, Minna
One person has been confirmed dead, while six people were injured after a mining pit collapsed in the Galkogo community in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
The mining site, said to belong to African Minerals and Logistics Limited, collapsed on Sunday evening, after a downpour, leaving no fewer than 50 miners trapped underground.
Among those trapped since Sunday night is the site manager of the mining company, Alhaji Ibrahim Ishaku. It was gathered that a middle aged man, whose name was given as Kuta, who is the chief security officer to the mining company, died while trying to rescue some of the victims. Six people were eventually rescued with varying degrees of injuries and are said to be receiving treatment at a government health facility in the area.
It was further gathered that while manual rescue operation was ongoing, another portion of the mining pit caved in, forcing the rescuers to abandon the rescue operation and run for their lives. As of the time of this report (yesterday), all the 50 victims were still being trapped underground, fuelling fears that they may have died.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mallam Hussaini Ibrahim, who confirmed the incident in a statement, in Minna, yesterday, said “due to the unacceptable nature of that environment, as a result of banditry, the information on the incident is very scanty, including rescue operations”.
The PRO, however, disclosed that excavators had been deployed to the scene for the rescue operations. He also confirmed bandits’ attacks on the Adogo Mallam village in Mashegu local government area of the state, on Sunday night, where six people were kidnapped, and the Tunga Kawo village in Erena ward of Shiroro local government, where over 20 people were also kidnapped with hundreds of cows rustled.