Geita — GEITA: TWO people have died leaving 28 injured after an underground land collapsed in Mbogwe District, Geita Region last week.

That happened after about 30 people invaded the prohibited artisanal mining area of Kanegere village in Mbogwe District to carry out mining activities.

Geita Region Police Commander (RPC), Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Safia Jongo reported the accident over the weekend, adding that the accident happened on September 10th this year.

ACP Jongo named the deceased as Justine Godwin (23), a resident of Katoro Township in Geita District and Wilson Masunga (23), a resident of Bariadi District in Shinyanga Region.

"This mine location was closed for a while; people are prohibited from working at the mine but there are people commonly known as monkeys, who trespass through unofficial pathways to reach the prohibited areas," she said.

She explained, as soon as the accident happened, people near the area rushed for rescuing operation and managed to save Mr Justine, who was still alive and reported that there were many colleagues in the mining pit. However, Justine died later.

"Rescue efforts were made, about all the people were saved and only one person remained and it was until the 13th (September) when the body of the man named Wilson Masunga (23), a resident of Bariad, was found.

"I would like to appeal to small-scale miners, when the government or experts say that this area is dangerous and not suitable for mining, we should stop it as soon as possible," ACP Jongo warned.

The commander explained that there is a big problem of small-scale miners using unofficial pathways to reach the restricted mine areas and eventually leading to disasters of the sort.