News / National
Eight gold panners trapped to death
29 Aug 2011 at 00:08hrs | Views
EIGHT gold panners were trapped to death in a mining tunnel at Rosecommon Estate in Chimanimani on Wednesday night.
Police in Manicaland confirmed the incident and have released names of four of the panners.
Among them were Isaac Chinyai (33) of Dzingire Village, under Chief Muusha in Chimanimani, Chenjerai Kanda (29) of Ndiadzwa Village under Chief Mutema in Chipinge, Open Hlerami (32) of Dzingire Village, under Chief Muusha in Chimanimani and Edmore Ndomoya (32) of Seka Village under Chief Mutema, Chipinge.
Manicaland provincial police spokesman Inspector Leonard Chabata said the eight were among 11 panners who had invaded the gold-rich area.
The incident happened at around 8pm on Wednesday night.
It is alleged that eight of the panners went inside a tunnel about 10 metres deep. Suddenly, the tunnel collapsed and trapped all the eight inside. Efforts by their three colleagues to save them were fruitless and they reported the matter to police.
Police attended the scene, but could not retrieve the bodies that night. They only managed to retrieve them the following day with the assistance of local villagers. The eight bodies were taken to Chimanimani Hospital mortuary for post-mortem.
Police in Manicaland confirmed the incident and have released names of four of the panners.
Among them were Isaac Chinyai (33) of Dzingire Village, under Chief Muusha in Chimanimani, Chenjerai Kanda (29) of Ndiadzwa Village under Chief Mutema in Chipinge, Open Hlerami (32) of Dzingire Village, under Chief Muusha in Chimanimani and Edmore Ndomoya (32) of Seka Village under Chief Mutema, Chipinge.
The incident happened at around 8pm on Wednesday night.
It is alleged that eight of the panners went inside a tunnel about 10 metres deep. Suddenly, the tunnel collapsed and trapped all the eight inside. Efforts by their three colleagues to save them were fruitless and they reported the matter to police.
Police attended the scene, but could not retrieve the bodies that night. They only managed to retrieve them the following day with the assistance of local villagers. The eight bodies were taken to Chimanimani Hospital mortuary for post-mortem.
Source - Byo24News
