Police retrieve 9 bodies from Gbane mining pit

Police in the Upper East Region has confirmed that the bodies of nine miners trapped in a pit at the Gbane mining site have been recovered.

The miners were trapped after the pit they were working in, three nights ago, was inundated with water from a heavy downpour in the Talensi District.

A rescue team spent nearly 48 hours pumping water out of the underground mining tunnels in a desperate attempt to locate and rescue the miners.

It has now been confirmed that nine of them drowned and their bodies have been found.

Meanwhile, a search continues as rescue efforts intensify.

The Upper East Regional Minister has already directed that a committee be set up to probe circumstances leading to the incident.

According to Mr Stephen Yakubu, the committee’s task is to ensure such happenings do no reoccur in the District.

“In order for this not to happen again, I am going to put up a Committee to look over small scale mining here in the region. We are talking about our region and particularly this area, what is it that we [should] learn and do so that these unfortunate happenings will never happen again? And so I am going to do that,” he said.