25-year- old Jeremiah Kato Mucunguzi, a resident of Bisiza Village Kaara parish in Muko Sub County is dead, after a mine caved in Rubanda District burying him alive.
Nelson Niwamanya, a brother to the deceased says Mucunguzi met his death at around 5pm on Wednesday evening while mining Wolfram. Niwamanya says he heard other miners screaming for help and rushed to see what had happened only to find his brother buried under mud.
He adds that it was raining when the mine caved in. The Kigezi Region Police Spokesperson, Ely Maate says Mucunguzi's body was retrieved from the mud and handed over to Kabale Regional Referral hospital for postmortem.
According to Maate, they have opened up investigations under SD 23/04/10/2017 at Rubanda Central Police Station to establish whether the deceased was wearing protective gear when he was killed.
Donat Kankonde, the General Manager KI3R Minerals International Limited, a UK based firm, which is in charge of the Mines declined to comment on the matter.
KI3R Minerals International Limited took over the Nyamuriro Wolfram Mines from Krone Uganda Limited in December last year. At least 800 people are employed as casual laborers in the mines that cover 175 hectares.
In August this year, the employees complained of poor working conditions in the mines. They accused the company of failing to provide them protective gears like gloves, helmet, overalls, gumboots and goggles.
