Five bodies of the people trapped in Liberia gold mine have been recovered and hastily buried because of their state of decomposition. 35 more people are still thought to be trapped in the mine. The mine is deep and dangerous and the rescuers have been using their bare hands to on their rescue mission because they don’t have machinery. Even if excavators were available they would not use them because they could hurt those trapped underneath.
At least 10 people have been rescued alive some having broken legs, while others are dehydrated. They were in a group mining for gold on Saturday when the walls of the pit suddenly collapsed on them. An eyewitness, who is among the survivors, says that there were about 60 persons in the hole when the debris collapsed on them.He said they dug about 20 feet deep and went 200 meters digging under the mines where there were four compartments.
He says gold deposits were located in each of the compartments and to get to the gold, they had to crawl on narrow paths. More than 40 persons had crawled into the compartments when what seemed like a landslide descended on them. He said those who were far deeper into the holes could not find any escape route, except those who were not near the compartments; ”I managed to survive, because I was not near the compartment,” the survivor explained. According to the regional administrator, more than 100,000 people have been doing uncontrolled and illegal mining in the area.