Two miners have lost their lives after the walls of an underground gold mine caved in on them in Ikolomani, Kakamega County.
The victims, aged 38 and 39, succumbed to suffocation due to the lack of oxygen after being buried alive in the 150-foot-long gold mine.
According to reports from Ikolomani miner Evans Museve, one of the deceased, a foreman, entered the mine to inspect a hole’s formation following the dewatering and lowering of the water table.
When he didn’t return promptly, the second man, an operator, entered to check on him.
Patrick Misango, a colleague of the two deceased men, emphasized the need for better mining equipment and improved safety measures.
“The government should deploy better mining equipment because these men tragically lost their lives because of the lack of them. This incident could have been avoided,” he said.
Additionally, Shinyalu and Ikolomani gold miners’ chairman, Samwel Njomo, expressed his frustrations with the Government’s lack of support.
“We have been asking the government to help us; however, we have always been met by delay. They (the government) are always fast in imposing tax on us, yet they never take time to fix roads that lead to the goldmines,” Njomo remarked.
“I implore the county government to help us obtain enough rescue machines after such incidents occur.”
Rose Ayuma, the mother of one of the victims, spoke of her devastation upon learning of her son’s fate.
“My son was the only boy and my only hope. I depended on him to help sustain my living,” she stated.
She emphasized the financial strain this loss has placed on her family and pleaded for assistance to support her late son’s wife and two children.
Frustration has grown among miners and residents alike, with some questioning the government’s priorities, particularly in demanding license fees while failing to provide adequate assistance.
“We are now wondering if all they are after is money and not the deliverance of aid,” Niva Maiva, a resident said.
Regrettably, this is not the first mining accident in Ikolomani, as a similar incident occurred in May of this year, claiming the lives of two diggers.
They are now calling upon Governor Fernandes Barasa to intervene.
The bodies of the two victims have been transported to the Kakamega General Hospital mortuary