Three Die In Salima Gemstone Mine When the Upper Cavity Collapsed

A 2 year old girl was killed together with two miners but her mother survived from the accident

A two year old girl and two men aged 24 and 25 were killed on a Christmas day when upper cavity of a tunnel they were in, searching precious stones collapsed and fell on them.

The tragic accident that took place at Sadzu village along Lilongwe river bank in Salima District has also left the mother of the girl and another man in serious injuries and are currently admitted at Salima District hospital.

Salima Police Public Relations Officer Sergeant Gift Chitowe confirmed that the three died in a 2 metre deep hole and mom of the girl and a man, survived with serious injuries.

He said the little girl was just following her mom and miners digging closer to the collapsed hole carried rescue operation but found the three already dead.

“These people stay at Sadzu village and they went to a mining area located in the same village. They were all in the same hole mining gemstones and suddenly the upper cavity of the tunnel collapsed and fell on them.”

Police have identified the deceased as Adams Mwale aged 24 from Mpaliro village of T/A Chatoloma in Kasungu, Juston Bajesi aged 25 of Sangwa village T/A Khombeza in Salima and a 2 year old girl Linda Jakamusi whose mother Susan Chimbalanga from Katole village T/A Khombedza survived the accident together with Mbuli John aged 21 from Mwamadi village T/A Kambwiri Salima.

Sergeant Chitowe says the mining activities that have just emerged in the area for the past two months by people from the districts of Dedza, Lilongwe, Dowa, and Nkhotakota are extracting red and white Galanite gemstones. He said such activities are being done without license and protective materials like proper mining clothing. He also said the owners of the collapsed mine had no license too.

“As Police we are advising members of the general public to take proper measures whenever they are mining in order to prevent these incidences in future. They need to follow the right channels whenever they are doing this job” he advised, he added “They must realize that it is dangerous to do mining, they need to have protective wears and must follow right procedures from relevant authorities and get registered with government.”

Currently Malawi government is in the process of formalizing the mining subsector Artisanal and Small Scale Miners (ASM) by registering everyone involved in these activities in order to end numerous challenges the subsector is facing. The subsector is not well regulated, has no proper markets and access to financial support and equipments for their job is difficult

Through the recent ASM Policy Consultation Symposium urged all miners to get registered and both government and private sector were challenged to provide necessary support to ASM in areas of financial literacy and access to loans, necessary tools and access to markets.

Over 20 Thousand people in the country are employed in Artisanal and Small Scale Mining activities and proper formalization of the subsector by putting proper regulations and monitoring of such activities will not only increase 10% the mining sector contributes to the Malawi GDP or provide better markets for ASM but will also help to provide necessary resources that may help the miners to carry out their mining activities in a safe environment.

This year similar incident occurred in Dowa district where three women suffocated to death and one was left with sustained serious injuries when an upper cavity of a tunnel they were in to extract clay soil collapsed and fell on them on 23^rd April. The incident took place at Bimphi village T/A Chiwere where four women were inside the tunnel extracting clay soil which they wanted to use in smearing their houses for decoration.