By Ijeoma Wilfred
One person has been confirmed dead, and 30 persons including the site manager still trapped as a mining pit collapsed in the Galkago community of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
Several persons were injured in the incident.
This was made known by the Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency Abdullahi Baba’arah in a statement in Minna on Tuesday.
He said that the mining pit was reported to have collapsed around Monday afternoon.
Officials said thirty persons including the site manager, Ibrahim Isyaku are still trapped in the collapse pit.
In the meantime, authorities have deployed excavators to the mining site to remove debris and rescue those trapped although, there are fears that the rescue operations may be hindered by bandits .
Niger State is blessed with abundant solid minerals including Gold and fShiroro local government which has huge gold deposits is the epicenter of bandry, terrorism and other forms of criminal activities.
