A 30-year-old man lost his life after a quarry he was working in caved in and buried him alive in Kandara, Murang’a County.
Joseph Mwangi has been working in the Gataiyu quarry for many years now where he excavated stones for sale.
Witnesses said one part of the quarry collapsed on Saturday, burying him alive but another worker who was with him in the quarry managed to run to safety.
Locals rushed to the scene where they dug out the rocky soils and retrieved his body.
They said heavy rains experienced in the area recently could have weakened the soils, causing the quarry to collapse.
Area MP Alice Wahome faulted National Environment Management Authority (Nema) for failing to conduct regular inspections of quarries to safeguard the lives of workers.
“Nema should be the one advising locals on the safe and unsafe places to be. I have never seen them do that since I became an MP,” Wahome said.
But Murang’a County police commander Josphat Kinyua said the quarry had been closed and that workers were risking their lives working in it.
Kinyua asked miners to keep off quarries until the rains subside.
“It has been dry for some time and then rained heavily. If there were any cracks on the ground then it would be easy for soils to cave in after raining,” he said.
He said the victim was 15 feet below the ground when the quarry caved in and that his body was taken to Thika Level 5 hospital mortuary.
