A miner was badly wounded yesterday morning when gunmen invaded a camp at Five Star Backdam, North West District.
The wounded man has been identified as Felix Defoima. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds including to his neck and back. He was air-dashed to the city yesterday afternoon and at press time he was still in a critical condition at the Georgetown Hospital.
Details surrounding the shooting are sketchy. According to information reaching this newspaper, the man and his workers were “washing down” when gunmen invaded the camp and unleashed a barrage of gunfire.
The gunmen, Stabroek News was told later escaped with an undisclosed quantity of raw gold.
The badly wounded Defoima was rushed to the Port Kaituma Hospital, and later transferred to the city.
A police official, when contacted, said that the details at the moment are sketchy but a team has been dispatched to the area to investigate.
This is the first case in recent times of bandits invading a mining camp. Over the years miners have been an easy target for bandits.
Last December at Big Creek, Port Kaituma, miner Reval Wong, 25 years was attacked and robbed of raw gold. Wong, was walking along a trail when he was attacked by two men, one of whom had a hand gun. He was also shot in the palm of his right hand during the attack.
In February the decomposing remains of miner Andy Whyte were found on a trail at Eye Lash Backdam, NWD.
When he left his mining camp, he reportedly had a quantity of raw gold in his possession. It is believed that he was killed for it. Police are still conducting investigations into this case.
