Sand mining halted after four are buried alive in Igembe

All sand and murram mining activities in Igembe Central have been stopped, following an incident last Monday where a mine collapsed, killing four people and injured one other person.

Yesterday, a team comprising of Igembe Central MP Kubai Kiringo, Meru County Commissioner Wilfred Nyagwanga and National Environment Management Authority (Nema) officials toured the scene of the tragedy to console bereaved families and raise awareness on the dangers of murram harvesting in the area.

"Most of the miners are local young people trying to eke a living. They unfortunately dug too deep into the escarpment and the overlying mass collapsed and buried them," Kiringo said.

He said all mining activities have been halted to enable Nema assess whether the quarries are safe or not.

Eyewitnesses of the Monday incident said the accident happened as 12 men loaded sand into a lorry beneath the wall. They said strong winds and loose soil might have contributed to the wall caving in and trapping the miners.

"They were scooping sand into the lorry when all of a sudden, the wall caved in and crumbled on top of them. Even the lorry was buried by the sand, five men were unable to get out and we were only able to rescue one," said Wilson Makembo, who was involved in the rescue mission.

Igembe South OCPD Patrick Mbarire told The Standard that the one rescued was taken to Nyambene Hospital while the dead were transferred to Meru Level 5 Hospital mortuary.

"We have now closed the quarry. There are other quarries we know and others we do not, but if anybody wants to harvest sand, they must get a license from Nema," Mbarire said.

Meru Governor, Peter Munya, sent a message of condolence to the bereaved families and said the county government will take appropriate action to ensure sand harvesters adhere to safety guidelines.