Miner dies after excavator topples on him at Omai

Last Updated on Tuesday, 9 August 2016, 22:04 by Denis Chabrol

A Berbician gold miner was killed Tuesday in a mining accident in the Omai area where an excavator toppled and submerged him in a pond, the Ministry of Natural Resources said.

“While all the facts are still yet to be determined, reports are that an excavator was trying to lower an engine into a mining pit when it toppled and the operator became submerged resulting in the fatality,”  the ministry said in a statement.

Police sources identified the deceased as 45-year old Ricky Hughes of Glasgow, East Bank Berbice.

Investigators have so far learned that the man’s body has been already flown to Georgetown.

A team of policemen has been deployed to the area to conduct a probe.

Neither the Ministry of Natural Resources nor the Guyana Police Force said whether the mining operation was legal or illegal.

A Commission of Inquiry has already found that most mining accidents occur because recommended safety practices are ignored and there is a virtual absence of worker education about the proper construction of mining pits and occupational safety and health practices.