The bodies of two more miners, of a group of eight who had been trapped since April 16 in a mine in Burkina Faso, were found on Saturday, bringing the death toll to six, the country’s government announced.
“Search operations at the Perkoa underground zinc mine”, located about 100 kilometers west of Ouagadougou, “led to the discovery of two more lifeless bodies this afternoon. [sábado]”, he refers in a government statement, adding that the search “continues to find the other two miners”.
On Tuesday, the bodies of four miners had been found, 39 days after their disappearance at a depth of 580 meters.
The eight miners – six Burkinabe, a Zambian and a Tanzanian – were trapped at the bottom of the Perkoa mine, operated by the Canadian company Trevali Mining, after heavy rains flooded the underground galleries where they worked 700 meters below ground.
Since the disappearance of the eight miners, no contact had been made with the workers, but rescuers still hoped that the men had managed to take refuge in a “refuge chamber” 580 meters below ground, where survival kits containing water, food and medicine. normally stored.
Rescuers discovered this empty chamber on May 17, so hopes of finding the miners alive were slim to none.
The disappearance of the miners shocked public opinion in the country and a line of solidarity was created for the relatives of the victims.
The death of the first four victims found was declared this Tuesday by the prosecutor of the high court of Koudougou, in the Midwest region, according to the France-Presse news agency.
Since April 16, rescue teams have pumped out around 165 million liters of water that flooded the galleries.
On May 1, the Government of Burkina Faso announced the start of a judicial investigation to clarify the details of this incident and prohibited those responsible for the mine from leaving the country as a precautionary measure.
In turn, the families of six miners filed a complaint against strangers for “attempted involuntary manslaughter”, “putting the lives of other people at risk” and “not assisting a person in danger”.
Source: Observadora
