By Septimus Senessie in Kono
An abandoned mining pit at Number Nine Junction in Kono district has claimed the lives of two pupils, Simeon Ansumana, 9, of the Seventh Day Adventist Primary School and Tamba Kanjay, 10, of the Life Primary school.
The kids, who stayed 300 meters away at Old NDMC camp, had gone to swim in the 7-foot deep still water which was apparently left behind by massive mining activities.
Mother of the 10-year-old, Agnes Kanjay, in between sobs, described the death of her son as “untimely and a big loss”. She told Politico at the government hospital in Koidu that at around 6pm a seven-year-old boy came to tell her that her son had drowned.
Chairman of the Kono district human rights committee, Rev. Sahr Christian Fayah, described the deaths as “an abuse of the inalienable rights to life of the children through reckless and illegal town mining practices by some unscrupulous people in the district”.
The clergyman of the Central Assembly of God’s Church called for the immediate reclamation of mined out pits in the city of Koidu to help save the lives of poor children in the district.
Senior Crime Officer at the Tankoro police division, Constable Tamba David Alpha, said that cases of drowning were on the increase. He recalled that over nine such cases had been recorded since August 2012 and that victims were mostly children.
The autopsy results from the hospital were yet to be made known, while the remains had been handed over to the bereaved families for interment.
(C) Politico 13/02/14
