Sand harvester buried alive in Budalangi

A youth who had gone to harvest sand in Ebukholi village in Bunyala subcounty was buried alive on Saturday when boulders fell on him.

Friday Ndekwe's body was retrieved from the sand boulders by former area civic leaders Samuel Magoba and Gomba Otimbo and taken to Port Victoria referral hospital mortuary.

Florence Akumu, the mother to Ndekwe, said she was shocked when she heard wailing from the direction of her eldest son’s homestead as she returned home at around 11am.

She said she was forced to go to her son’s home only to discover that he had been buried alive by the sand boulders.

Budalangi sub-location assistant chief Oscar Manyasi said scores of sand harvesters in the area have defied an existing ban on sand harvesting during the rainy season.