A gold miner in Migori was on Thursday pulled out alive more than 24 hours after the mine he was working from collapsed.
Fred Opole was pulled off from Kanga mines in Rongo subcounty
on Thursday after he was buried alive the previous day.
Opole, appeared weak after he was pulled from the rubble and rushed to Rongo subcounty hospital for treatment.
“We have been praying for his well being even we called off the search on Wednesday and resumed on Thursday morning,” Jack Otieno, a colleague said.
Opole was checking on the condition of the unstable mine which had collapsed hours earlier following a heavy downpour.
Otieno said they arrived at the mine in the morning but failed to work as the walls had been weakened by the rains.
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“We had waited the whole day for the sun to come up and firm the ground. After midday we thought it was dangerous and wanted to head back home,” Otieno said.
However, Otieno said his colleague insisted on checking the condition of the walls on the deep mines when it collapsed while he was inside.
Two colleagues who were with him managed to escape and called on others to help him.
Road contractors on the busy Migori-Kisii road which is being tarmacked rushed an evacuator to the site and started the rescue process.
By midnight, Opole was still talking from the mines when the rescue operation was called off for the day.
“We had a pipe which we used to give him milk and donuts to give him strength. When we checked on him at 5 am he was still alive and talking. His will to live sustained him,” Rongo OCPD Kibet Kirui said.
The excavator had made several trenches leading to vents which his colleagues used to eventually pull him out and carried onto an awaiting ambulance.
On Monday, a gold miner from Bukira mines in Kuria West died on the spot while his two colleagues escaped death narrowly due to suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.
The miners were trying to pump water outside a gold mine using diesel-powered pumps when the incident occurred.
January and February are regarded as the peak months for mining in the county.
Migori county police boss Joseph Nthenge said the body of the deceased was taken to Migori County referral hospital mortuary awaiting further investigations.
He called on mines to stop their exercise with the current ongoing heavy rains pounding the area.
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