Two dead, three severely injured after mine blast at Gbane

Two young illegal miners are reported to have died and three others injured in a mining pit at the Mwabok mining area in Gbane in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region.

The event occurred on August 28 after a mine blast the previous day at 3:30 pm.

The deceased, Baanab Kodzo and Naambey Nyang, went underground for mining activities but suffocated due to intense heat in the pit resulting from the blast, a police report has said.

Bodies of the deceased have since been deposited at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital for preservation and autopsy while the injured are receiving treatment.

The three receiving treatment at the Hospital are Joel Naab,19, Mubarak Alenyen, 31 and Osman Kaadire, 25. All five victims were earlier rushed to the hospital after the incident but the two were pronounced dead on arrival.

Between 2019 to the second quarter of 2020, about 25 miners have lost their lives in mining pits and mining underground in some mining communities in the Talensi district.

Hundreds of unemployed youth in the area make a living out of illegal mining while others are under licensed small scale miners and large scale miners.