MAN , 18, KILLED IN PIT (Page 23)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Tango

AN 18-year-old man, Nachinab Wubah, was last Monday trapped to death in mine at the Yenyeya Mining Concession in the Talensi-Nabdam District of the Upper East Region.
Nachinab, a native of Tongo, was alleged to have descended into the pit to fix a fault on a water-pumping machine, which was then in use.
Eyewitnesses at the site believed that the deceased was suffocated by the large amount of smoke emitted by the faulty Honda 5.5HP water pump, which was being used underground to drain the pit.
Kofi Evans, a colleague of the deceased, told the Daily Graphic that at about 7 p.m. on Monday, he came to the edge of the pit and saw Nachinab working on a pumping equipment.
Kofi said Nachinab told him he suspected the pump had developed a fault so he was descending into the pit to mend it.
He added that, contrary to his advice, Nachinab went underground while he left for his home.
According to Kofi, a few minutes later he returned to the pit and when he asked some people around if Nachinab had emerged from the pit, they responded in the negative.
Sensing danger, Kofi said he followed up and on the way, he saw that the area was engulfed in smoke.
He said when he took a closer look in the hole, he spotted his friend lying motionless in the pit.
“I tried to call for help but, unfortunately, the people on the surface could not hear me. All I realised later was that I was on admission at a clinic”, Kofi stated.
Other eyewitnesses at the scene said when they realised that there was danger ahead, they organised themselves and retrieved the body of Nachinab out of the pit.
The Secretary of the Talensi-Nabdam Small Scale Miners Association, Mr Robert Tampoure, blamed the owner of the concession, one Mr Charles Yenyelib, for the death of the young man.
He alleged that instead of allowing his boys to use the appropriate mining equipment provided by the government, Mr Yenyelib parked the equipment in his house in Bolgatanga and resorted to the use of unsuitable machines.
Mr Tampoure called on the Minerals Commission and the police to arrest Mr Yenyelib and bring him to book.
The Regional Mining Officer, Mr Joseph Abew, who visited the site to assess the situation, said his outfit had on several occasions, warned the owner of the concession as well as other miners to desist from using unsuitable equipment.
 He said the government, realising the need to improve the operations of small-scale mining, had presented a number of mining equipment worth GH¢230,000 to the various mining groups in the area including the Yenyeya Mining Concession.
 The items which were presented in October, 2007, included three electric generating sets, three compressors, jack hammers, drill rods and pumps.
 He did not therefore understand why the owner of the pit was not using the equipment but chose to resort to old methods.
 When reached on the telephone, Mr Charles Yenyelib denied all the allegations, saying he could not in any way be held responsible for the death of Nachinab whom he claimed had been working with his company over the past five years.
 He said he resorted to the use of the Honda 5.5HP water-pumping machine because the equipment provided by the government had not been handed over to him.
 He described the death of the young man as unfortunate, adding: “My brother, I am very sad that it happened but these things occur occasionally in the kind of job we do here.”