"This was just an accident because the miners had no information about the tunnel and when the miners unknowingly tampered with the tunnel it is when the walls of the mine collapsed," said Makhule.
Mukhule said a good number of gold mines in the region are safe while calling for sensitisation of artisanal miners for safer mining.
"We need to sensitize and create awareness to our small-scale artisanal miners on the safety of gold mining," said Mukhule.
A week ago, Cabinet Secretary for Mining Ali Joho while in Kakamega County called for a collaboration between the national government and county governments to get rid of illegal miners to streamline the sector to avoid perennial accidents in gold mines.
Kakamega County has at least 8,000 artisanal miners operating without licenses.
Last year eight miners were trapped in an artisanal gold mine that collapsed in Abimbo, Siaya County.
Six miners were rescued and one succumbed.
In October 2021, two fatalities and several injuries were reported at the Copper Hill mine in Nyatike, Migori County.
Additionally, another accident was reported at a mine in Ikolomani, Kakamega County, where five miners died while several others escaped with serious injuries.
According to reports by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) at least 250,000 people are directly employed in artisanal gold mines while more than one million people depend on the sector for their livelihoods.
Some miners are proud entrepreneurs while many others have no other alternatives.
Additionally, UNDP states that deaths in artisanal mines are characterised by poorly developed underground workings due to the informal nature of the activity.