About 30 people, believed to be illegal miners [galamseyers] have been trapped in a pit belonging to AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) in Obuasi.
The illegal miners are said to have sneaked into the pit of the mining company. That pit is called Cote d’Ivoire pit.
They were spotted last Saturday in the pit located at Anwiam, a suburb of Obuasi, prospecting for gold.
The Ghanaian Times reported that it was relatives of the victims who raised an alarm about the incident after they noticed their absence for some days.
As of Tuesday evening, they were still in the pit and it was feared that if they were not immediately rescued, they could lose their lives since they have been trapped for five days.
Confirming the information, the Assembly Member for the Ahansonyewodea Electoral Area, Vincent Donkor, said that he was informed by some relatives of the victims at about 3 am Tuesday that their relatives have gone missing for five days after leaving their respective homes in search for gold.
Mr Donkor said he followed it up to officials at the Security Office of AGA, who in turn asked that the matter be formally reported at the local police station for action.
According to the Assembly Member, the security personnel of the AGA have also confirmed that the ‘illegal miners’, have sent a signal to the security detail at the entrance to the pit that they were afraid to come out of the pit for fear of being arrested.
Mr Donkor said he had picked signals from the pit suggesting that they could lose their lives since they have become very feeble after consuming all their food and water being under the ground for the past five days.
The pit is being protected by security personnel, but it was not known whether where (pit) the victims went to prospect for gold had been abandoned by AGA or not.
According to the Assembly Member, when AGA wanted to close such pits they would make an announcement, but in this case, no announcement had been made.
A police source contacted at the Obuasi Divisional Command said it had not received any information about the incident.
credit: Ghanaian Times
