-
Police advised the other miners to avoid the site until it was declared safe.
-
The incident comes a week after at least three gold miners died after the walls of an underground mine collapsed in Manyatta village, Vihiga.
Image: SCREENGRAB
A miner was killed when explosives he was using to mine gold in a village in Ortum, West Pokot went off accidentally, police said.
The incident happened on Thursday evening at Kamarpol village in Ortum sub-location, Batei location.
Police said the miners had dug a 20-foot shaft, which collapsed following a blast therein.
The residents assisted in the excavation and managed to retrieve the body of a 52-year-old man with physical injuries in the head.
It was established that the deceased who was in the company of the other two men who escaped unhurt was using explosives to blast rocks inside the shaft but the deceased was trapped inside the exploding shaft and succumbed.
The body was moved to the Kapenguria Referral Hospital morgue awaiting autopsy.
Police advised the other miners to avoid the site until it was declared safe.
The incident comes a week after at least three gold miners died after the walls of an underground mine collapsed in Manyatta village, Vihiga.
Police said two others escaped with injuries in the Thursday incident. They were pulled out alive and rushed to hospital.
The site is among many discovered in the area and where residents venture to make a living.
Officials however say the tunnels where the miners venture are unsafe for their operations.
The officials said the miners were using heavy machines to crush stones in their artisanal activities, overlooking the environmental impact.
As part of efforts to address the menace, government officials have always directed those involved in mining activities to stop operations for the National Environmental Management Authority to conduct an environmental impact assessment to give the ecological guidelines before mining operations can resume.
Nema officials were directed to carry out the environmental impact assessment and give reports at the sites as part of efforts to address the safety measures.
The gold miners are also ordered to seek licenses from all the relevant government authorities before embarking on the work.
They have been told to stop using heavy machinery at the sites.
These machineries make the sites weak and unsafe for the miners.
The majority of the gold mining activities are done by small and medium enterprise miners who have been exposed to unsafe practices in the mining extraction processes.
Those engaged in extracting the precious mineral have always defied government bans on mining, especially during rainy seasons arguing that it is the only activity in the region that enables them to put food on the table.