A gold pit in western Kenya has partially collapsed, trapping a dozen miners under, police said Tuesday.
“The information we have is that there were around 20 miners at the time it collapsed, but eight have been rescued,” Daniel Makumbu, a county police commander in the Kakamega region told AFP.
“The search and rescue operation is ongoing and we are urging the crowd to stay away to make the work easier and avoid endangering themselves because this area is very fragile,” he added.
The incident occurred late on Monday.
Africa’s Institute for Security Studies said legal small-scale mining, mostly focused on gold, contributed $224 million to the Kenyan economy in 2022 — around half of its mining output — and employed around 250,000 people.
At least five people died when heavy rains caused an illegal gold mine to collapse in May 2024 in the Hillo area near the border with Ethiopia.
Kenya has a small mining sector compared to its neighbours.
However despite rapid growth in recent years, much of it is unregulated with miners having to deal with poor safety measures and organised crime groups.
