Two men died on Saturday afternoon at a mining camp in the Waiamu Backdam, Region 7 after they were crushed by a falling tree even as they attempted to run to safety.
Dead are Clive McDonald of Bartica, said to be in his twenties and a father of two with another child on the way, and a man who is known as ‘Makaram’ from the East Coast Demerara.
Stabroek News was told that two men died minutes after they were taken out from under the fallen tree and police travelled into the backdam along with the owner of the mining camp to bring out the bodies.
According to 29-year-old Anisha Feidtkou, who was at the mining camp at the time of the tragedy, the incident happened in a matter of minutes.
“All a we been sitting and gaffing when this thing happen, it just happen and I don’t know how I get save; is a miracle,” the woman told Stabroek News today from the Bartica Hospital where she was being kept for observation.
She related that it has only been one week since was employed at the mining camp as a cook. It was around 4pm when she along with four of the workers were in the camp talking as she completed their meal. Shortly after the mechanic exited the camp she heard him telling them to run as a tree was falling. The woman said one of the men rushed out in front of her and she followed him, and the now dead men brought up the rear.
It was not long after that that the tree came crashing down and she was covered with a branch. The two men were brought out alive from under the tree, but died soon after.
