A 16-year-old Junior Excessive Faculty (JHS) scholar, Yakubu David, has tragically misplaced his life after falling into an unlawful mining pit generally often known as a galamsey website at Pramkuma, close to Akyem Takyiman within the Kwaebibirem Municipality of the Jap Area.
The unlucky incident reportedly occurred when Yakubu was pursued by armed safety personnel on the website.
In response to accounts gathered by Adom Information, Yakubu and his buddies had ventured to the unlawful mining space seeking revenue.
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Confidence within the bed room is extra than simply bodily efficiency.
James Abanga, one in all Yakubu’s companions, revealed to Adom Information that the safety guards accused Yakubu of stealing gold and gave chase to retrieve it.
Throughout the ensuing confrontation, the guards allegedly assaulted Yakubu and compelled him into the pit, leading to his deadly fall.
Within the wake of his dying, Yakubu’s father is demanding justice and calling for these accountable to be held legally accountable.
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In the meantime, the Ghana Police Service has but to launch an official assertion on the matter.
The lethal risks of galamsey
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The tragic dying of Yakubu David provides to the rising listing of lives claimed by unlawful mining operations in Ghana.
Galamsey websites have turn into dying traps, particularly for the nation’s youth, who are sometimes pushed by poverty and desperation to threat their lives in unsafe situations.
Unlawful mining pits incessantly collapse with out warning
In January 2024, 4 miners have been buried alive when the partitions of an unauthorized gold pit caved in at Obuasi. Equally, water-filled excavations pose one other deadly threat.
In Might 2024, two teenage boys drowned within the Western Area whereas scavenging for gold in a flooded galamsey pit.
Poisonous publicity is one other silent killer
Unlawful miners typically use hazardous chemical substances comparable to mercury and cyanide, which contaminate water sources and poison each miners and close by communities.
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In 2023, six residents of Prestea died after consuming water laced with mercury from a polluted stream.
Violence can also be endemic in galamsey zones
In June 2024, safety personnel allegedly chased three miners right into a collapsing pit in Akyem Manso, leading to one more avoidable tragedy.
Simply final month, 13-year-old Kwame Asare misplaced his life when an unstable tunnel collapsed on him as he tried to mine gold to assist his household.
These ongoing tragedies underscore the pressing want for decisive and complete motion to finish unlawful mining.
Galamsey not solely endangers Ghana’s setting but additionally continues to say the lives of the nation’s most weak residents.