Five local miners have died and seven others injured when a mining pit collapsed on them in Rukku community in Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The incident occurred on Saturday, January 28, 2023, when some local miners went to the mining site in the community to mine solid minerals.
It was gathered that those who escaped formed themselves into a team and rescued seven of their colleagues working at the surface, albeit with injuries, while the dead were deep inside the pit and could be rescued, according to The Nation.
A local miner who was part of the rescue team revealed that the incident happened at about 7:00 p.m as those on the site were working late into the night, adding that all efforts to rescue those trapped in the mining pit proved abortive.
According to him, the rescue team later gave up hope of rescuing them when they could not get to the point where they were trapped under the ground.
The chairman of the Barakin-Ladi local government area, Hon. Jok Alamba, who confirmed the incident, expressed shock over the development, adding that the youths died in the process of trying to eke out a living in an illegal way.
Alamba implored the youths to embrace legitimate ways of living and desist from illegal businesses to avoid the repetition of the unfortunate incident.
