The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) says that it will this week conduct investigations into Thursday’s mining cave pit accident at Arau, Region 7 which claimed the lives of four Brazilians.
Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission Rickford Vieira told Stabroek News that the miners were not registered with the GGMC and from preliminary findings it appears that were working on Arau’s titled land which is controlled by the village.
Such arrangements involve the payment of tribute to the village.
Vieira said that the closest person the agency has in the area is several miles away and it will take them a day or two before they get there. He said that so far the point person has not made contact with GGMC and he may not be aware of the accident given poor communication and logistics. As such GGMC will be sending in a team to notify him and then join him in the investigations.
The dead miners were identified by police as Taigo Nunes Pinto, Ronaldo Da Silva Sousa, Joao Nelson Pinto Mands and Joao Gonsalves Martin. Jose Roberto Diaz, who was injured in the collapse, was being treated at a private city hospital and has since been discharged.
In a release, the police said that the cave-in occurred on Thursday at about 5.55pm, when the 30 to 40 foot deep cave they were working in collapsed. The bodies were flown from the area to the Ogle airport on Friday evening and are currently at the Lyken Funeral Parlour awaiting post-mortem examinations which will be conducted today.
