Mabayi : 15 clandestine gold miners died in an artisanal mine

The horror happened on the night of Friday to Saturday on Rutabo sub-village, Gafumbegeti village. It is in the Butahana zone of the district of Mabayi, in the province of Cibitoke (northwest Burundi). The local administration confirms the information. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

According to our sources, a torrential rain that fell on the locality caused the small river Rugogo to overflow. Its waters flowed into two wells where there were local clandestine miners.

In the first well, there were 11 gold miners, and the second contained 4 people who all died there, local sources reported.

During the day of this Saturday, administration authorities, the civil protection police, agents of the ministry in charge of mines tried to extract the bodies, in vain.

In families, it is desolation. They ask the government to “well organize these gold mining activities which often take the lives of our people”.

The district administrator confirms the information. Nicodème Ndahabonyimana asks site managers to insure their employees.

“Until this evening, no body had been extracted from the wells”, residents told SOS Médias Burundi late on Saturday night.

In the northwest and northeast, several such incidents often occur, with illegal miners preferring to work at night to escape the control of the authorities, in artisanal mines without any first aid kit.

The province of Cibitoke records more deaths each year.