A Baramita, Region 1 villager was yesterday afternoon buried in a mining pit and had to be air- dashed to the city last evening for medical attention.
The woman, 36-year-old Rita Henry, is at a private city hospital and doctors are battling to save her life.
A relative told reporters that the woman would usually search for gold with her batel to meet her daily needs. He said that yesterday while she was doing this in a 20-ft mining pit the walls caved in and covered her. When she was rescued she was unconscious.
“They normally punt just to survive to get a pennyweight or two and buy fish or sugar …just to live not mining”, he said.
She got covered when the walls cave in…other persons were in the pit but she alone was covered…the mining people had to get excavator to remove the stuff off of her”, he added.
Her niece Gloria (only name given) said that she was radioed and told of the incident and her mother told her to meet her sister at Ogle and to take her to the city hospital.
An Air Services Limited plane was used to bring the woman out and the family explained that the owner of the airline volunteered to pilot the plane as when they called other services none was available. They extended thanks to that company last evening.
At the hospital, Henry, whose first language is Carib and has difficulty with English, was being coaxed by her niece in her native tongue. While her eyes were open she was not responding to any commands.
Her niece explained that the woman seems paralyzed from the waist down. At press time she was being prepped to undergo a series of tests including a CAT scan.
