Gold miners digging inside a pit. (Photo: Courtesy).

The Commissioner of Raja County in Western Bahr el Ghazal said five gold miners including two National Security Service personnel have died inside a flooded pit at a mining site in Dulu area on Saturday.

Adison Arkanjelo Musa said the miners hired by a local Gold Company known as TSA, entered a dug hole at around 3 PM to assess its condition and accessibility of gold for extraction.

“We lost a number of young men who were working with one of the national companies working in gold prospecting called TSA,” he said.

“They started with the operations of sucking water out of the well, and during the operations, the two people who were inside discovered that the well was leaking water coming from a nearby river with a distance of 30 meters.”

Commissioner Arkanjelo said the leak of water deep inside the cave and the failure of a machine pumping water deprived them of oxygen leading to their subsequent death.

It is not clear if the miners drowned or suffocated inside the well.

“The water that was being sucked out began to return to the well, which caused the motor that sucks the water to stop, and this caused a shortage of oxygen, which led to their suffocation and death.”

The commissioner further revealed that three more people who were outside attempted to enter the cave and rescue them but they also died.

He said the only miner left is currently hospitalized at Raja after suffering injuries in an attempt to save the victims. Mr. Arkanjelo conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families of the lost ones and urges them to remain calm.

The county official added that further investigations into the incident were ongoing and urged mining companies to take safety of its workers into account.

“We in the government have formed a team to investigate the incident. We always recommend that companies take safety into account.”