Illegal Mining pit
A mining pit caved in and killed a woman, who was carrying an eight-month-old pregnancy at Manso Akam, a mining community in the Amanse Central District of the Ashanti region.
Abena Georgina, 25, also known as Maa Abena, died instantly while searching for gold with her colleagues who were in a different pit.
According to an eyewitness, her colleagues raised alarm to alert the community members after the pit caved in but she was found dead later after scouring through the rubble with an excavator.
According to Atinka News Ashanti Regional correspondent, Chukwu Obinna Joseph, the mother of three was found with her stomach widely open while the fully developed fetus was also lying lifeless.
The remains of the deceased have been deposited at the Agoroyesum Morgue but the fetus was left in the pit, he reported.
It will be recalled that the East Akyem Municipal Health Director Edmund Kaitoo warned against the alarming rate at which pregnant women appear to be choosing galamsey over the health of their unborn babies.
According to him, the women prefer engaging in illegal mining to attending antenatal care.
“We were not able to meet our target for 2014, our coverage was just about 60 percent and we want to get to 80 percent.
“We attribute this to the galamsey activities. Most of the time, we find the women going to do galamsey instead of going to the hospital and they use it as grounds for getting something for their pockets,” he told Atinka News in an earlier interview.
