11 trapped as tin mine collapses in Ntungamo  

10 of the miners were rescued in the first one hour of the rescue. However by 10:00pm on Wednesday one who was at the extreme end of the chain identified as Kiiza Jameson was still trapped in the rubble. He was, however, rescued at 1:00am.

The miners work in gangs, with each gang comprising of at least 15 miners who work on a chain link, until they reach the final mineral ground normally about 100 meters underneath.

John Marini who was the third last in the chain says he saw rocks falling and was trapped as he tried to escape.

“We were mining but as we approached the hard part where we expected some minerals the soils started falling, rocks fell on us and those who were behind us ran out. Some were trapped but some managed to escape, I was also caught up, Kizza is down here and we are trying to rescue him, this is our work.” Mr Marini said.

However, the mines Manager Mr Moses Serunjogi says the company is not sure whether there were more people trapped inside because the miners who had gone down into the tunnel had not registered at the entrance.  

“We have had challenges with administration of the mines of recent and we are in process of streamlining things, what we did not expect is that such accident would happen at the time when we are deep into these challenges,” he said.

The mines had been closed last week when the miners went on strike following adjustments in the management of the old mines that were left by European miners in the late 1970s.

However, management reopened the mines on Tuesday after registering most of the miners and imposing structural adjustments as well as increasing security presence with at least 15 police officers.

There have been at least 15 accidents in the mines in the past two years claiming 13 lives.

Mr Serunjogi said there have been various accidents in the mines with some claiming lives though they have not been involving police before the rescue is done.

“We have had various accidents in almost all the tunnels, but we don’t call police in until we rescue our people. This is because when they arrive miners do not work to rescue their colleagues because they think police can do the work and also police can’t enter the tunnels because they are too small to enter with their gargets,” Mr Sserunjogi said.

He, however, blamed the several number of accidents in the mines on the mining methods and laxity of the miners. He said the company has tried to protect the miners but they are adamant to wear protective gears which is at times disastrous to their lives.

The miners on the other hand accuse Zanak holdings for being exploitative and inconsiderate of their lives as their only concern is to get the minerals which they sell to the company after a day’s mining.

A kilogram of tin costs Shs 14000 to 28000 on local market and is normally sold through Rwanda since Ugandan minerals are not tagged on the world market.