The body of 25-Year-old Tom Okwach who was buried alive at the Abimbo goldmine in Siaya seven months ago, has been retrieved.
Tom’s uncle, Fredrick Ogunde, confirmed that the deceased’s remains were retrieved on Sunday morning following spirited efforts by 15 artisanal miners who were excavating a tunnel near the collapsed mine stumbled on Tom Okwach’s body at about 2am after a search lasting 205 days.
Tom Okwach and seven other miners were buried alive on December 2, 2021 when the shaft of a mine they were in caved in trapping them several feet beneath.
“We thank God as a family we can now bury our kin,” said Ogunde.
Six other miners were retrieved alive.
The deceased’s brother, Steve Aliwa, expressed mixed reaction noting that while he was delighted his brother had been found, the family had gone through a difficult time grieving about their kin after hopes for rescuing him were dashed after search teams failed to reach him in time.
The miners were 10 at the time of the incident, but two found their way out of the shaft, leaving behind the eight who were still trapped but were later rescued. Bondo deputy county commissioner Richard Karani while confirming the incident in December said that the workers who made their way out of the shaft sought treatment at a local health facility and were discharged.
The retrieval now brings to two the number of fatalities reported in the incident that is said to have costed more than Ksh6 million, according to Mr. Joseph Onyango, the officer in charge of Governance and Administration in Siaya County
The gold diggers were trapped almost 20 feet from the entrance of the mining chambers.
One of the survivors of the tragedy revealed he had sounded the alarm about a tremor while inside the shaft before the incident, but was dismissed as inexperienced.