Close shave: Survivor of the collapsed Ikolomani goldmine narrates how it happened

Ikolomani MP Benard Shinali (in green shirt) accompanied by Bushiangala residents inspect the killer gold mining shaft that collapsed yesterday killing five people. [Mumo Munuve, Standard]

It was like any other afternoon for Joseph Mulama, a miner who narrowly escaped death when walls of a mine collapsed and buried five of his colleagues alive, leaving at least eight others nursing serious injuries on Thursday evening.

The 25-year-old was the youngest in the group of 27 miners who had descended into the mine in Bushiangala village in Ikolomani Sub-county. Speaking for the first time since the tragedy occurred, Mulama says he was sent for an errand a few hours into the task.