At least 23 people, including 11 children, have died after falling into abandoned illegal mining pits in Ghana’s Ashanti Region, the regional minister said Monday.
The toll matches an earlier count from the region’s disaster management agency, which in July put the same figure at 23 deaths, 12 adults and 11 children, spread across 19 districts between January and June. NADMO’s regional director had appealed then for trained divers and rescue swimmers to respond to the drownings, which he described as a growing humanitarian problem tied to the rainy season.
Dr Frank Amoakohene, the Ashanti Regional Minister, disclosed the updated figures while commissioning a new Minerals Commission office complex in Kumasi. He said 19 bodies have been recovered while four victims remain trapped underground, and that most of those killed were residents who fell into uncovered pits while walking routes to their farms. He called the toll among children particularly devastating, saying pits left open by miners chasing profit had cut short young lives.
Amoakohene said the Regional Security Council, working with the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, has begun reclaiming and covering abandoned pits across affected communities, an exercise he described as ongoing. He also said fuel stations that once supplied illegal miners inside the region’s forest reserves have all been shut down, and that permanent riverside camps for forest guards have been built with UK support to strengthen enforcement.
The minister said the reclamation drive would continue as authorities work to secure dangerous sites before more residents are hurt.
