At least five female artisanal miners have died after a prohibited gold mine collapsed at Lumba Village in Rarieda Sub-County, Siaya County.
According to witnesses, the mining shaft caved in on Monday, March 3, at around 5 pm, burying six women who were engaged in illegal mining activities.
Following the incident, locals who were on high alert immediately began the process of retrieving the six women who were buried alive. After about three hours, the bodies of five women were recovered.
Siaya County Police Commander Sarah Koki confirmed the incident, revealing that the National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO) were already on the scene to coordinate the rescue efforts.
She noted that the search for the sixth victim was still ongoing, but the bodies of the other five women had already been transported to the Bondo Sub-County Hospital mortuary.
Commenting on the tragedy, Lumba Village elder Caroline Oginga disclosed that the victims had been warned several times not to conduct mining activities in the collapsed shaft.
According to Oginga, despite several warnings, the women ignored the notices and proceeded to access the 15-foot gold mine, only to be buried alive.
“They had been cautioned against accessing the mining site but failed to heed the warning and were immediately buried inside,” said the village elder.
“When I arrived, I found they had already been retrieved. It was a site that had been left for women to mine without any permit—it was just someone’s farm that they had invaded to extract gold,” she added.
Meanwhile, cases of collapsed gold mines have been rampant recently, with the latest incident occurring barely a month after 19 people were trapped when a gold mine collapsed in Imachilifu Village, Shinyalu Constituency, Kakamega County.
The incident, which took place on February 4, left four people dead, while the rest sustained critical injuries.
According to Kakamega County Commissioner John Ondego, the miners were operating in an aged mining tunnel and were not licensed by the county government.
“What they are doing is risking their lives, and most people here are young people engaging in this work. Due to the unemployment problem, they are resorting to anything that can put food on their table,” Ondego revealed.
