Efforts to rescue trapped Ghana gold miners continue

Accra - The mission to rescue 40 illegal miners trapped in a disused pit in eastern Ghana a week ago was still continuing on Wednesday, but unfavorable conditions including weak props supporting the pit are reportedly undermining the operation.

Mawuena Dumor, Communications Manager of US mining giant Newmont, owners of the concession on which the miners are alleged to have been trapped, confirmed that there were no steps to call off the rescue exercise.

"The humanitarian effort is still on-going. The only person who can call off the exercise is the Mines Inspector at the site and as far as I know, no decision has been taken to call off the rescue efforts," reports reaching here quoted Dumor as saying.

The miners are reported to have been trapped underground since last Wednesday at Nyanfoman-Noyem in the Birim North District, butthere was no official record about the number of people inside thepit.

A large number of people from various parts of the tiny west African country then besieged the area in search of their relatives.

Dumor said the area had become very dangerous because the illegal pit was supported by rudimentary, primitive and weak structures, which could endanger the men and machinery being used.

Meanwhile, she said the mission had discovered another illegal hole, measuring 200 feet (61 meters), near the area where the excavator started digging for the bodies last Saturday.

The Nyanfoman-Noyem village, which hitherto was a predominantly farming community, was two years ago turned into a busy gold prospecting center with illegal miners. Experts classified its gold as the best in terms of quality in the country. Enditem